A panel of experts reviewing Japan's anti-coronavirus measures says the country has kept the outbreak under control to a certain extent.
The government panel revealed its opinion on Monday. Two weeks ago it said Japan was at a crossroads, as far as the containment of the virus was concerned.
Health experts in Japan continue to refine the advice they offer in response to the coronavirus outbreak. They're now urging people, especially younger generations, to be on the alert even if they don't show major symptoms.
Japan Community Healthcare Organization President Shigeru Omi said, " We have come to believe that people with mild symptoms play an important role in spreading the virus without knowing it. In particular, young people are unlikely to become seriously ill, making it very difficult to see the danger they may pose to others. As a result, they infect many middle aged and elderly people, putting them at risk."
A team of experts says people with mild symptoms are thought to be unwittingly spreading the new coronavirus in Japan and should avoid crowded places where ventilation is poor.
On Monday, an expert team of a government task force on the Covid-19 outbreak published its views of the current situation and what measures to take.
A team of experts at Japan's health ministry say they found that most of the new coronavirus infections were spread in a closed environment where the air tends to be stagnant.
The experts say the spread of the new coronavirus can be contained by avoiding gatherings in small indoor spaces.
Experts on a government panel have agreed on the need to prevent clusters of the new coronavirus in Japan from expanding further.
The view comes as the Japanese government is set to compile comprehensive guidelines to contain the spread of the virus on Tuesday.
A team of US environmental experts has surveyed an area of northeastern Japan that was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 2011.
On Tuesday, a team from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center visited a lagoon in Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture. The lagoon was connected to the sea after a massive tsunami.
A team of infectious disease experts began examining a quarantined cruise ship at Yokohama Port on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday evening, 135 cases of the new coronavirus had been found on the Diamond Princess. About 3,600 passengers and crewmembers remain on board the vessel.
A group of infectious disease experts is to survey a cruise ship hit by a coronavirus outbreak to prevent further spreading of the disease.
As of Monday, more than 130 people on board the Diamond Princess docked at Yokohama Port tested positive for the new coronavirus and have been taken to hospital.
A panel of Japanese experts says that over the next 30 years, many people living along the Nankai Trough face a higher chance of experiencing a deadly tsunami than being injured in a traffic accident.
The government's Earthquake Research Committee gave the assessment in a report on Friday.
Experts say there's no need to be overly alarmed by the first confirmed case of a new coronavirus infection in Japan. But they also call for vigilance.
Nobuhiko Okabe, head of the Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health, says it's clear where the patient was infected as he had visited Wuhan. He also says human-to-human transmission has been very limited so far.