Yamagata Begins Temperature Checks Of Visitors
Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan has launched its own anti-coronavirus measures targeting people coming from other prefectures.
Local officials on Saturday began checking temperatures of visitors at seven locations, including a key train station, an airport and a parking area near the border with Miyagi Prefecture.
People with a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher are asked to return home.
At a gate of the JR Yamataga station, officials closely watched a themographic device to check those arriving on a Shinkansen bullet train.
Yamagata has fewer confirmed cases of coronavirus than Tokyo, Osaka, and other urban areas.
A woman in her 20s from Kanagawa Prefecture said it was imperative for her to travel to Yamagata, and that she felt relieved after her temperature was checked.
The woman said that it is understandable to carry out temperature checks on people from outside the prefecture.
A prefectural government official says that as the movement of people will only increase in the holiday season, he wants people who travel between prefectures to pay more attention to the risks of spreading the infectious disease.
The temperature checks will continue through May 10, beyond the holiday period.
