Mainichi wrote that Okinawa Governor Tamaki told reporters on Monday that the number of cases in the outbreak of COVID-19 at Camp Hansen reached 186. The paper also wrote that a Japanese worker in her 40s who works at Camp Hansen tested positive for the Omicron variant, bringing the total number of Omicron cases in the prefecture to four. Tamaki told reporters that the prefectural government’s efforts to prevent COVID-19 infections will have gone up in smoke if the lack of sufficient anti-COVID measures at the U.S. base causes the spread of the Omicron variant in the prefecture.

Fuji TV and TV Asahi aired similar reports this morning, saying that Governor Tamaki is planning to call on the U.S. and Japanese governments to not allow U.S. military personnel to leave Camp Hansen. TV Asahi aired footage of U.S. service members leaving the base on Saturday evening, saying some of them were not wearing masks. The broadcaster also aired footage of service members tottering on streets outside the base, commenting that they appeared to be inebriated.