Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and will recuperate at home until at least June 11, officials announced.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed that Hayashi is experiencing only mild symptoms. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference that no one at the ministry or the prime minister's office has been identified as close contact.
The official noted that Hayashi felt pain in his throat when he went to the ministry on Wednesday morning and took a PCR test for the coronavirus.
He skipped a session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee in the afternoon and also cancelled separate meetings with a group of U.S. lawmakers and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera.
The number of new COVID-19 cases across Japan has been below 30,000 per day lately, compared to 100,000 in early February when the country was struggling to contain the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Kyodo News reported.
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