The Imperial Guard Headquarters said Saturday a senior officer has contracted the new coronavirus, but that he had not had contact with the emperor and empress for a long time.

The headquarters said the man, in his 50s, also did not have that much contact with other members of the imperial family, and that none of its other personnel showed similar symptoms of the pneumonia-causing coronavirus.

Effective March 31, the man was transferred from his post in Kyoto city to the Akasaka district, which is tasked with the security of the imperial couple's residence in the Akasaka Estate in central Tokyo.

He dropped by the estate on March 28 and developed a fever the next day. After resting at home, he underwent a medical examination on April 9. He had no record of overseas travel in the past two weeks before developing symptoms.

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