By Sakura Murakami and Ju-min Park
TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Japan plans to conduct HIV drug trials to treat patients infected with the coronavirus, as the growing number of cases poses a growing threat to the country’s economy, as well as to Public health
Yoshihide Suga, the government’s main spokesman, said in a press conference on Tuesday that the government is “currently carrying out preparations so that clinical trials with HIV drugs in the new coronavirus can begin as soon as possible.”
Suga said he could not comment how long it would take for the new drug to pass the approval process.
The total number of confirmed infections in Japan was 520 until Monday, including 454 cases of the Diamond Princess cruise, quarantined in front of the Yokohama port, according to the Ministry of Health of Japan. So far, a person has died from the virus in Japan.
Faced with the contraction of the Japanese economy and the risk of recession, the spread of the coronavirus has led Tokyo to limit public concentrations, while some companies have begun to urge employees to work from home.
In the absence of effective therapy against the virus, the use of drugs used against HIV has been raised. So far, about 1,900 people have died from the epidemic in mainland China.
In China, the population has begun to explore unorthodox ways of obtaining treatments, some of them through HIV patients or unauthorized importers of medicines.
In Thailand, doctors said they seemed to have had some success in treating severe cases of coronavirus with a combination of flu and HIV medications.
Japanese authorities have said they will strive to avoid interruptions in the Olympic Games that begin in Tokyo in July. However, given the growing concern over the situation, the Mongolian Olympic archery team has canceled its training in Japan due to concerns about the virus, according to the Kyodo news agency.
EVACUATIONS OF DIAMOND PRINCESS
Meanwhile, more than 300 Americans who had been on the Diamond Princess cruise ship returned home via evacuation flights from the US Administration on Monday.
The ship has been in quarantine since the beginning of this month, which involves the confinement of more than 3,000 passengers and crew, after a passenger who had left the ship in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
About half of the passengers aboard the Diamond Princess are Japanese and the rest foreigners, many of whom have expressed frustration over quarantine.
The cruise will receive meals from World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organization created by chef José Andrés, in an attempt to reduce the ship’s crew load, said Rai Caluori, vice president of Princess Cruises ship operator.
Foreign governments such as Canada, Australia, Italy and South Korea are also planning evacuations of their citizens on the cruise.
Japanese passengers who test negative will begin disembarking on Wednesday, the original deadline for the end of the quarantine of the ship, said Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato.
(Information from Ju-min Park and Sakura Murakami; Additional information from Hyonhee Shin in Seoul and Chris Gallagher in Tokyo; Kim Coghill and Kenneth Maxwell edition; translated by Tomás Cobos)
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