1st Coronavirus Death in Japan Confirmed

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese woman in her 80s who was infected with the new coronavirus has died, becoming the first confirmed death from the virus in the country, the health ministry said Thursday. The woman, a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, is not among reported cases of the virus, the ministry said. There is information that the woman is a relative of a 72-year-old taxi driver in Tokyo who has tested positive for the virus, a government official said. "We'll conduct an epidemiological survey, considering the possibility that the woman was infected in the country," health minister Katsunobu Kato told a press conference. The woman has not visited China, the ministry said. The outbreak of the virus started in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei Province. In addition, the woman has not had contact with people who stayed in the province, according to the ministry. The ministry said that it is too early to determine whether human-to-human transmission of the virus is spreading in the country. The woman complained of tiredness on Jan. 22 and went to see a doctor on Jan. 28. After being monitored for a while she was diagnosed as having pneumonia and was hospitalized on Feb. 1. She was transported to another hospital on Feb. 6 as her conditions worsened. A test for the virus conducted a day before her death on Thursday was positive. END