Worker at Japan’s Biggest Bank Tests Positive for Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said a branch employee in central Japan has tested positive for the coronavirus, the first case reported at a major bank in the country.

Japan’s biggest lender has disinfected the Konan branch in Aichi prefecture, it said in a statement Thursday. It is investigating the activities of the employee and checking any customers who may have had contact with the person.

The employee saw a doctor after coming down with a fever on Feb. 25, and tested positive the following day, the bank said. The person is hospitalized in a stable condition. The statement didn’t say whether the branch would suspend operations.

Japanese lenders including MUFG have been allowing employees to work from home or on staggered shifts to avoid crowded trains that could increase the risk of infection from the new coronavirus. The Bank of Japan is asking major banks about their readiness for a worsening of the outbreak in the country, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Japan has more than 180 coronavirus cases, excluding hundreds who were infected on a cruise ship in Yokohama.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gareth Allan in Tokyo at gallan11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward, Peter Vercoe

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