Two new coronavirus cases confirmed on Iriomote Island, including one town employee, and insufficient healthcare on the island has its residents scared

Two new coronavirus cases confirmed on Iriomote Island, including one town employee, and insufficient healthcare on the island has its residents scared

Iriomote Island (File photo)


August 7, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo

Taketomi – The Okinawa Prefectural Office in Yaeyama and the Yaeyama Health Department have disclosed two new confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Iriomote Island in Yaeyama, a boy in his teens and a man in his fifties. The two new cases were not included in the report released by the prefecture on August 6. That same evening Yaeyama announced that the man in his fifties worked at the town government office on the island. There are now a total of three confirmed cases on Iriomote Island.

The two are related to another teenage boy from western Iriomote who as confirmed to have the disease on August 4. On August 5 they started showing symptoms like fever, and after being taken to Yaeyama Hospital on a Japanese Cost Guard ship, were confirmed to have the virus after taking an antigen test. Neither of the cases are being considered serious at this time.

Okinawa Prefecture has asked those who have been infected as well as those who have come in close contact with someone who has been infected quarantine at home, and have asked everyone in Okinawa to refrain from going out except for necessities. The health department has indicated that they will test people believed to have come in contact with the people who have contracted the virus over a wide area based on a tracing survey.

As the island does not have much in the way of healthcare services, there is rising concern that the disease will spread. There are also those who are concerned that this will effect tourism, which was starting to rebound.

Naoyuki Uekame, 64. who operates a hotel in western Iriomote, said, “Because the case was someone who lives here, and not a tourist, I’m worried that it could have spread to a variety of places. Even going to the supermarket has become scary.” There are only two healthcare facilities on the island, one in the eastern part, and one in the west. “There are a lot of elderly people on the island. We can only pray that it doesn’t spread.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)

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