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Coronavirus outbreak: Tokyo Disneyland closes as Japan rushes to contain deadly bug

Shutting down for customer and staff safety

Tokyo Disneyland has been forced to close its doors as authorities in Japan rush to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Disneyland and the DisneySea theme park, part of the same resort in Japan’s capital, will not be opening on Saturday (February 29 2020) and will say closed for at least two weeks.

Tokyo Disneyland
Japan is rushing to contain an outbreak of coronavirus (Credit: SplashNews.com)

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The park’s operator said in a statement, as reported by the Daily Mail: “The reopening date is scheduled for March 16, but we will contact closely with the relevant administrative organs and will inform you again.”

Last month, Disney closed its theme parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The reopening date is scheduled for March 16.

And according to CNN, the company warned several weeks ago that it expects to lose as much as $280million from the closures, combined with the impact of the mass protests that swept through Hong Kong in recent months.

Universal Studios Japan has likewise said it is closing down for two weeks.

So far, over 200 people in the country have so far been infected with the coronavirus, BBC News reported.

Tokyo Disneyland
It won’t be open until mid-March at the earliest (Credit: SplashNews.com)

It follows reports of the first British casualty from the flu-like bug.

On Friday (February 28 2020) afternoon, Japanese media reported that a man who was among the passengers from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess had died.

He was one of several people who were aboard the ship to die from the virus – and the first British person so far to succumb to it.

His death follows reports that as much as 80 per cent of the UK population could eventually be infected with coronavirus.

A National Security Communications Team document reportedly seen by The Sun suggested that four in five people in the UK could contract Covid-19.

Coronavirus
Experts fear 80 per cent of the world could contract the disease (Credit: Lee Jae-Won/AFLO / SplashNews.com)

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The percentage is equivalent to more than 50 million people and would lead to around 500,000 deaths, as experts have said the disease is believed to have a mortality rate of around one per cent.

As reported by the Evening Standard, Scotland’s chief medical officer confirmed that emergency preparation has been ramped up across the UK to ensure effective measures are in place should such a situation become a reality.

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor