Japan Press Weekly

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2020 July 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

Okinawa gov’t to urge US military to disclose details of COVID-19 cases at Futenma base

Five civilian employees at the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa got infected with the coronavirus. This came to light on July 8 at a prefectural assembly meeting in an answer to a question by a Japanese Communist Party assemblyperson.

On the previous day, the five cases were detected. The USMC announced that infected individuals and their close contacts were placed in isolation and that infection sources are unknown.

At the prefectural assembly meeting, in response to a question posed by JCP member Toguchi Osamu, a prefectural government official in charge of public health said that the prefecture will urge the U.S. military to provide all the information regarding the confirmed five cases, such as whether they had any contact with any of the 218 Japanese working at the base as well as with people outside the base.

Regarding the virus outbreak at U.S. bases in Okinawa, in March three cases were confirmed at the Kadena base. In addition, it was made public on July 2 that a family member of the USMC stationed at Camp McTureous tested positive.

Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, Japan’s quarantine rules are not applied to U.S. military members on their arrival at U.S. bases in Japan. This has increased public concern that U.S. servicemen, civilian employees, and their family members can bring the virus in from abroad.

Past related articles:
> Shii: US military quarantine measure should be subject to domestic laws meeting anti-coronavirus measures [June 26, 2020]
> US military in Japan should disclose information about coronavirus infection cases in its bases [April 15, 2020]
> JCP Akamine demands information disclosure regarding the number of coronavirus cases among US troops in Japan [April 5 & 6, 2020]