Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto’s Twitter message on March 5 that reads it is pointless to divulge details about the action of an infected individual (From Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto’s Twitter account)

Kobe's mayor drew a torrent of online criticism for refusing to share details on people confirmed infected with the new coronavirus, such as which public transportation system and train stations they used.

“What is the point of exposing details of the infected people's actions?" Mayor Kizo Hisamoto said on his Twitter account on March 5. "If they took a subway train, are you going to stop taking that one?”

Those who disagreed were quick to pile on online.

“(The mayor’s comment) showed no consideration for us,” one person complained in a post.

“If I knew how and when they traveled, I'd be able to protect myself,” another wrote.

Hisamoto defended his decision not to reveal the information, saying that it could negatively impact people who tested positive and discourage others from getting tested.

He added that though residents are understandably anxious, city officials “should also be considerate of the infected as they are truly a minority.”

On March 3, two days before Hisamoto's tweet, the Kobe municipal government announced the first confirmed infections in the city, a man and woman in their 40s, but did not disclose in which wards of the city the individuals lived.

Though the woman commuted to work, Kobe officials did not disclose the name of the public transportation system she used.

A flood of requests from the public for more information followed.

In contrast, the Hyogo prefectural government revealed the name of the railway line the prefecture's first confirmed coronavirus patient took to get to work.

The prefectural government made the information public when it announced the infection on March 1 of a man in his 40s from Nishinomiya.

“We should be discreet about releasing information such as the train stations an individual uses as it may lead to identifying where they live, but sharing no information will cause anxiety among the public,” a prefectural official said, referring to demands for more disclosure. “We will decide to what extent information should be revealed, depending on each case.”

How much should be revealed about coronavirus patients is ultimately up to each local government, though the central government set an unofficial precedent late last month.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Feb. 27 urged local governments and public health centers to heed disclosure guidelines set for the most severe infectious diseases such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

The guidelines state that history of the movements of infected individuals should be released to the extent necessary if it concerns “the period when they can transmit the virus to others” and “when it is impossible to identify people who may have had contact with the infected.”

The Kobe city government’s position is that the disclosure of details about their movements should be limited unless they coughed repeatedly in a public place.

But municipal officials revealed information about where two coronavirus patients worked when they announced the infections of a temporary employee in a Hyogo Ward office and the head of a nursery center accredited by the city government.

The officials said they did so because of the public nature of their workplaces, which many people visit.

The Kyoto municipal government has a policy to make public information about the names of railway or bus routes that infected individuals used.

One local government official called for more clear-cut direction from the central government on the release of details about coronavirus patients.

“Under the current setup, local governments must decide on their own on the release of details that may put patients at a disadvantage,” the official said. “The disclosure standard should be clearly spelled out.”