The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has put together a draft amendment to the law that requires operators to report to the government in the event of an infectious disease such as the new coronavirus on a foreign cruise ship entering a Japanese port.
On a cruise ship operated by a foreign operator, an outbreak of the new coronavirus occurred at "Diamond Princess" that arrived at Yokohama Port last February, and "Westerdam" that departed from Hong Kong was suspected of being infected. There was a case where a passenger was asked to enter the port of Okinawa.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism was responsible for grasping the situation on board, but it took time to grasp the information because the Marine Transportation Act does not require foreign businesses to report to the country.
For this reason, we have compiled a draft amendment to the Marine Transportation Act that requires foreign businesses to report outbreaks of infectious diseases as well as Japanese businesses.
Cruise ships operated by foreign operators have not called at Japan since March last year, but have entered various ports about 2000 times a year for the three years before 2019.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has decided to strengthen information gathering during normal times, such as by regularly requesting reports on flight performance after resumption.