The Yamanashi Prefectural Government headquarters (Mainichi/Kenji Noro)

KOFU -- The Yamanashi Prefectural Government announced March 30 that a bar worker in her 20s has been confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus and that about 200 customers had apparently been at the establishment during her work hours.

The woman is currently hospitalized at a medical institution in the central Japan prefecture.

According to the prefectural government, the woman, who worked at a branch of Japanese pub chain Mitsuboshi Mart in front of JR Kofu Station, had worked from 4 p.m. on March 21 to 1 a.m. the next day and from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on March 24.

The Yamanashi government is calling for anyone concerned to consult their local public health center.

The woman developed symptoms including a fever, cough, runny nose and fatigue on March 21, and saw a doctor on March 23. She reportedly visited a different hospital, but tested negative for the flu and was not diagnosed with pneumonia. She then consulted a specialized outpatient facility for returnees and those who may have had contact with an infected person, and tested positive for the coronavirus after receiving a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

The woman is the fifth person to have been infected with the new coronavirus in Yamanashi Prefecture.

(Japanese original by Shota Kaneko, Kofu Bureau)