Yuichiro Hata, a Japanese lawmaker, has died of COVID-19.
Hata, 53, is the first victim from the nation’s parliament.
He was Transport Minister under the defunct Democratic Party of Japan.
Hata passed away at a Tokyo hospital on Sunday, Dpa reports.
Tetsuro Fukuyama, Secretary-General of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said coronavirus was the cause.
On Monday, the official told reporters that Hata’s condition worsened after developing a fever.
His father was the late Prime Minister, Tsutomu Hata.
Japan has suspended the entry of foreign nationals until the end of January.
This followed the discovery of eight cases of a new COVID-19 strain first reported in the United Kingdom.
