Wuhan virus: Little global consensus on managing Wuhan evacuees

Two Japanese citizens evacuated from Wuhan initially refused to be screened for the new coronavirus, setting off a political dilemma in Japan over the evacuation mission.

At the heart of the debate is whether the human rights of a few should supersede the potential health menace to society.

The duo agreed to undergo tests last night, after the issue triggered a domestic backlash that was addressed in the Diet, as Japan's Parliament is known.

Emotions are high after Japan diagnosed its first asymptomatic cases of the Wuhan virus yesterday. Those without visible symptoms could simply be escorted home if they did not want to be properly tested.

There is little global consensus on how to manage evacuees, as governments around the world struggle to detect and prevent infection.

This is especially so as experts are still at odds over whether an infected person who shows no symptoms can still spread the virus.

The United States, like Japan, practises voluntary quarantine.

Its 201 evacuees, who returned to the US on Wednesday, are being held at a California air base.

They have been asked to stay for 72 hours to be monitored, but anyone who demands to leave before three days would be an issue escalated "up to the highest levels" of the government.

They are free to go home if they do not show any symptoms or test positive after three days.

In South Korea, which sent the first of up to four charter planes last night to bring home its citizens, quarantine centres have been identified in Asan and Jincheon, 80km south of Seoul.

All 700 expected returnees will be held for at least two weeks at the facilities, usually used as training centres for government officials.

Australian evacuees will be isolated for two weeks on Christmas Island, located 2,000km from the mainland.

British repatriates will be asked to commit to a 14-day isolation period, the BBC reported.

India's evacuees will be held at a quarantine centre outside New Delhi.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday sought to calm nerves by saying that while the duo's initial refusal was regrettable, the government has been "doing all it can to protect the lives and health of the people".

The two were among 206 citizens on Japan's first chartered flight out of Wuhan, ground zero of the 2019-nCOV outbreak, who returned to Tokyo on Wednesday.

They had displayed no symptoms at the airport and were escorted home after refusing further tests. But among the three new cases of the virus identified among the evacuees, two of them had displayed no flu symptoms.

Mr Abe said: "There are some areas where the government has been reluctant to forcefully step in because it encroaches on human rights. But from the second flight onwards, we should see how we can properly confirm the health status of all evacuees."

While Japan has named the new Wuhan virus a "designated infectious disease" under a special law, this allows the authorities only to make compulsory the hospitalisation of confirmed patients.

The issue has flared up in Japan, where Twitter users have argued that upholding the human rights of two people should not be more important than averting a potential health threat to society.

Many users called the duo irresponsible and demanded details such as where they live so that the neighbourhood can be avoided.

With three evacuees testing positive and another three cases confirmed last night, Japan's total tally of confirmed cases is now 14.

A second chartered flight, carrying 210 Japanese citizens, landed in Tokyo yesterday.

Of these, 26 people with flu symptoms were hospitalised. The rest have all agreed to be screened.