Japanese taxi driver finds out he has coronavirus over phone during TV interview

Was working before he got the call.

Nyi Nyi Thet | Kayla Wong | February 18, 2020, 11:11 AM

On Jan. 18, a taxi driver and his wife attended a roofed boat New Year party.

Unbeknownst to the partygoers, the taxi driver was actually carrying the coronavirus.

A worker on that roofed boat party was later confirmed to have contracted the virus.

On Feb. 15, a director for a Japanese infotainment programme on TBS boarded a taxi.

Through sheer coincidence, this particular taxi driver had attended the same aforementioned party on Jan. 18.

The director of the programme immediately sensed a scoop, and started an impromptu interview with the driver.

They got out of the car and the director, making sure he didn't get the driver's face in the shot, started filming.

The driver talked about how he had been tested for the Covid-19 virus the day before.

He said that he was currently asymptomatic.

The driver also said he had not stopped work because the doctors had not yet contacted him to say that he was a confirmed case.

And that's around when the phone rang.

On camera, totally unscripted, a call came in informing the driver that he was, in fact, a confirmed case.

The shock resulted in him having to walk away to deal with the news.

He was heard saying: "I'm working, and am in the middle of an interview now."

https://twitter.com/arupaka_shufu/status/1229271463116427264

According to a Yahoo Japan article, a TBS spokesperson said the director is an employee of an affiliate of TBS.

After the interview, the director contacted the help desk of the health department and said he had been in contact with an infected person.

But he was reportedly told that he could not be tested as he was asymptomatic.

As of Monday, Feb. 17, the director's physical condition had not changed.

He is currently working from home in the meantime.

Image from Twitter and Hisour