The U.S. State Department on Saturday raised the travel alert level to Japan from Level 1 to Level 2, calling for increased caution for American citizens traveling to the country.
Officials said the coronavirus originating in China is spreading in Japanese communities via unknown infection routes.
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There are four levels of alerts. Level 4—an advisory of no travel at all—is currently in place for travel to China, where the virus originated in the Wuhan Province.
According to the State Dept., “sustained community spread” has been reported in Japan, which means that people in the country have been infected with the virus, but how, when and where they became infected is unknown.
The coronavirus, now being called covid-19 by health officials, has resulted in more than 70,000 cases of people being infected and more than 2,300 deaths, although the bulk of the cases have been in China.
According to the Japan Times, the majority of people infected in Japan are passengers or crew members of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama.