Japanese Professor Warns of Need to Prevent a ‘Second Wuhan’

A Japanese expert in infectious diseases who created international headlines by criticizing the nation’s handling of the Diamond Princess quarantine on YouTube has warned of the need to prevent a “second Wuhan” in Japan.

Kentaro Iwata, a professor at Kobe University Hospital who said he boarded the cruise ship, posted videos to YouTube earlier this week in both English and Japanese in which he slammed bureaucrats’ handling of the quarantine. He later deleted them. Hundreds of people aboard the ship in the port city of Yokohama have been infected, with two reported dead. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Iwata said Japan now faces a critical period in its handling of the outbreak.