State Secretary Tamás Menczer has revealed that a Hungarian national has tested positive for coronavirus in Japan.
According to MTI, the patient is one of the crew members of a cruise ship stranded off the coast of Japan due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Menczer said the Diamond Princess was quarantined on Feb. 5 and was lifted on Feb. 19, and on Feb. 22 most of the passengers on board were allowed off the ship, while most of the crew stayed behind. The crew included two Hungarian musicians and a Hungarian waiter.
The Hungarian infected with the virus has been put in isolation and is set to be transported to a hospital or an observation unit within the next 2-3 days. The state secretary said the patient is feeling fine.
Meanwhile, Hungary's chief medical officer said Budapest and Debrecen airports are screening passengers arriving from Italy for coronavirus.
Cecília Müller said Italy’s ambassador to Hungary recently briefed the operative board set up to coordinate preventive measures against coronavirus on the situation regarding the virus in Italy. The virus so far is most prevalent in the Lombardy and Veneto regions but cases have also been reported in Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont.
Müller noted that a group of 11 secondary school students, two teachers and two drivers, who returned from northern Italy on Sunday night, have been placed in a two-week quarantine at South Pest Central Hospital. The foreign ministry’s consular service recommends that people planning a visit to Italy should make a final decision following “thorough consideration” due to the coronavirus epidemic.