The Omicron variant in Okinawa, cluster and related investigations: “Possibility of city-wide spread from US Military base.” (18de21)

A man in his fifties from Uruma in Okinawa who works at the US Military Camp Hansen has been confirmed as infected with the Omicron strain of Covid-19. At a press conference on 17 December, Governor Denny Tamaki  and Director of Public Health Science Itokazu pointed out that, from their viewpoint, they suspected the path of transmission was from infections within the base. Director Itokazu noted, “There is a possibility of a widening from the base to a city-wide infection.


At Camp Hansen, a large-scale cluster of 100 infected Marines who had been transferred to Okinawa from the US Mainland was discovered.

The Prefecture requested a genome analysis, but the US Military has not responded. So, the Prefecture is unable to determine whether or not their infections are from the Omicron strain. The Prefecture claims it is in the midst of investigating if there is an epidemiological connection between the base-worker’s infection and those in the US Military related cluster.


The explanation from the US Military to the Prefecture is that the transferred troops will be put under restricted movement (ROM) for a fixed time. Besides, they say, the infected base-worker wasn’t employed at their isolation facility.


Director Itokazu points out his viewpoint that, since no symptoms of virus of the Omicron strain had been found in the prefecture, the infection path to the base-worker was not from within the prefecture. Moreover, even if the troops were so isolated that there could be no contact with the base-workers, because of this situation where the virus has spread in a path that cannot be followed, there is a possibility that a city-wide infection is already spreading from within the base.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Saturday 18 December 2021 at 11:23

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/bc62c3e35ce6b43bd43556ca04b88ccd91338317


Translator’s note:

Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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