TOKYO (JAPAN) – A former transport minister of Democratic Party of Japan, 53-year-old Yuichiro Hata, has died of COVID-19.
Hata who is the son of former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, becomes the first incumbent lawmaker to succumb to the disease. He was transport minister in 2012.
Japan is facing a third wave of infections, with daily cases hitting a record 3,881 on Saturday. On Monday the country started banning non-resident foreign nationals from entering following the detection of a new, highly infectious coronavirus variant linked to a rapid rise in infections in Britain.