TOKYO (REUTERS) - Japan said on Friday (Jan 31) that it would bring forward the date that the coronavirus will become a "designated infectious disease" to Saturday (Feb 1) from Feb 7 as a third chartered flight carrying Japanese citizens arrived from Wuhan.

Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato said earlier on Friday that the government was considering moving up the date, without elaborating.

The government classified the virus as a designated infectious disease on Tuesday, a move that allows compulsory hospitalisation, stricter screening of people entering the country, and the use of public funds for treatment, among other measures.

In line with regulations, the designation was set to take effect only on Feb 7 after ordinances are issued.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, inaugurating a task force to deal with the virus, said the government would take all steps to prevent its spread, including tracking and checking people who had been in Wuhan.

Japan now has 14 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, an epidemic that is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Two of those had returned on the first chartered flight and had shown no symptoms.

Another case involved a tour bus driver who was infected after coming into contact with Chinese visitors.

As worries grew in Japan over a further spread of the disease, the government said it would refuse entry to anyone infected and would consider stricter screening for suspected cases, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

Mr Suga also told a news conference that the government would consider paying for the chartered flights out of Wuhan, as opposition lawmakers criticised its policy of charging passengers 80,000 yen (S$999) each.

"We decided on these changes in view of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) declaration of a global emergency," Mr Suga said.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya said the impact of the virus would depended on its spread but China's global presence was greater than when severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which also originated in China, killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003.

​The third flight out of Wuhan, which arrived on Friday morning, brings the total number of expatriated nationals to 565, Mr Suga said.