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 Japan has closed schools, zoos and theme parks, and drastically
scaled back public events since the outbreak. The annual spring
sumo tournament is being held in Osaka without spectators,
leaving public broadcaster NHK to televise bouts of wrestlers
facing off in an eerily quiet stadium.
Despite those steps, and the government's urging telecommuting,
there are signs that smaller crowds - including those at
restaurants and tiny "live houses" where fans stand cheek to
jowl to hear live music - are spreading the virus.
Osaka reported its first coronavirus case on Feb. 27. As of
Sunday, it had 55 cases, of which 49 were linked to four small
music venues, the local government said.
Many of the cases concentrated on three dates: Feb. 15, 16, and
19 - but a possible cluster-type spread wasn't identified until
early March, Osaka's daily announcements show. Many of those
infected were in their 30s and 40s and showed minimal or no
symptoms.
Thirty-four cases were linked to one venue in particular - Soap
opera classics Umeda - and another 18 to Live House Arc. About
100 people attended each performance at the clubs.
Another 19 people outside of Osaka, from as far away as
Hokkaido, the northernmost island, and Kumamoto, in the
southernmost main island of Kyushu, have also been traced back
to those two venues, authorities said.
Sushi chain operator Sushiro Global Holdings said on Tuesday it
would temporarily close one of its branches in neighboring Hyogo
prefecture to disinfect it after an employee who had been to one
of the music venues on Feb. 16 tested positive. The worker had
displayed no symptoms, it said.
For an interactive chart on coronavirus infections in Osaka,
click
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/
fx/editorcharts/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-JAPAN-MUSIC/0H001R8FKC89/index.html
Infections have been found in people who had been to two other
venues - LIVE HOUSE Rumio and americamura FANJ twice, said the
local government.
All four clubs, located within a radius of around 3 kms (1.9
miles) of each other in the city center, have since been
disinfected under the direction of Osaka health authorities.
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"The only way to prevent this disease from a very rapid
transmission and high infection rate is to reduce
person-to-person contact," said Eyal Leshem, the director of the
Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba
Medical Center in Israel, which has treated coronavirus patients
evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise liner.
"Communities that are experiencing what we call community
transmission need to shift to the stage of outbreak response
called mitigation," Leshem said, adding that meant "social
distancing" as a means to prevent person-to-person infection.
'UNDERGOUND MUSIC SCENE INFECTED'
Already, there are signs that the virus is spreading beyond
people who were in the clubs. A man in his 30s with no symptoms
who had been to Arc on Feb. 15 tested positive on March 8. Two
of his family members have also tested positive
The Osaka prefectural government is asking anyone who had been
to concerts on seven dates in mid- to late February at the four
venues to get tested for the coronavirus, whether or not they
have symptoms.
On its website, Live House Arc said it was cancelling all of its
events for the remainder of the month.
"Can it be? The coronavirus has engulfed the underground live
house scene!" said local guitar pop trio White Shadow in a blog
post this month.
The band was on the bill at Live House Rumio on Feb. 18. It said
it would postpone all of its performances through mid-month.
Japan has more than 1,000 cases of the virus, including about
700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship which was quarantined
near Tokyo last month. Sixteen people have died, including seven
from the liner. The virus has spread around the world, with more
than 100,000 confirmed cases and 3,600 deaths.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim and Naomi Tajitsu; Additional
reporting by Rocky Swift and Yuki Nitta; Writing by David Dolan;
Editing by Michael Perry)
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