Clients Suspected Of Having Covid May Be Rejected At Hotels And Inns In Japan
Japan's health ministry is seeking a revision to the Hotel Business Act to enable hotel operators to reject clients suspected of having infectious diseases if they do not comply with anti-infection measures.
Some hotels and inns in Japan are calling for a review to the current law which prohibits operators from rejecting lodging of guests unless it is certain they have an infectious disease, including COVID-19.
In response to the call, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry set up a working group composed of representatives from industrial organizations, lawyers, and academics.
A new policy announced by the group on Thursday says that hotels and inns can deny a stay by a guest, who exhibits symptoms such as fever and cough, refuses to wear a mask or use a disinfecting agent without good reason such as allergy to disinfectant.
The rule will be applied to clients suspected of having contracted the coronavirus and those with symptoms of high-risk infectious diseases, including Ebola, only when such viruses are spreading globally.
The new policy also says that even for people without symptoms, they can be rejected if they are troublesome guests who make excessive demands repeatedly.
It recommends that lodging operators voluntarily hold seminars so that their staff will not discriminate unfairly against people with infectious diseases.
The recommendation was proposed after a hotel in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, came under fire in 2003, because it rejected a reservation made by former leprosy patients.
The health ministry plans to submit a bill necessary to make a legal revision at an extraordinary Diet session to be held later this year.