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A Japanese man who went to bars after he tested positive for COVID-19 was declared dead yesterday, March 18.
The 57-year-old man died from pneumonia caused by coronavirus, and also had hepatocellular cancer.
The man learned he was infected on March 4, a day after his parents, whom he lived with, tested positive. He was admitted to a hospital on March 5.
Even if he was asked to stay home on March 4, the man went out to drink in two establishments on the same day. Gamagori City officials claimed that he had told his parents he wanted to “spread the virus,” Kyodo News reported yesterday, March 18.
The man went to a bar for 15 minutes and proceeded to a Filipino pub where he stayed for 40 minutes and sang karaoke.
At the pub, he put his arm around a female server. The server tested negative for coronavirus, but her colleague tested positive later on, as per officials from Toyota City, where the infected woman lives.
Police had intended to question the man when he was out of the hospital after the pub manager filed for obstruction of business last March 13. Both the bar and pub temporarily closed down due to the man’s infection.
Japan has 924 cases of COVID-19 as of this writing. Niña V. Guno /ra