Statement on Reported COVID-19 Infection at Toyota Work Site in Japan (as of March 22)

Today, Toyota announced that a second male, full-time employee in his 20’s working as a line worker at its Takaoka Plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee in question (Employee “B”) was a close contact of the Toyota employee who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 19 (Employee “A”). The two individuals worked face-to-face in the same production line. Employee B has not come to work since developing a fever on the evening of March 18. Employee B took the COVID-19 virus test on March 21 and was diagnosed as positive today.

After learning on March 19 that Employee A could be positive for COVID-19, Toyota ordered 11 individuals who had previously been in close contact with him to stay home. This included Employee B. In addition, because Employee B had developed a fever, on March 20 the company ordered 5 more individuals to stay home as a precautionary measure.

As Toyota has now confirmed a secondary infection within the same workplace, we have ordered 17 more team members to stay home. With this addition, a total of 33 team members have now been asked to stay home.

Toyota immediately and thoroughly disinfected the affected work sites on March 19 when the initial infection was suspected. However, following this new confirmed infection we will close the building in which the two employees worked for 3 working days, from March 23 to 25, to disinfect the workplace again and consider any additional countermeasures that may needed to prevent further spread of the virus. As a result of this shut down, Takaoka plant production line #1 will halt production for the same period.

We sincerely apologize for any anxiety or concern that this news may cause for people in the surrounding regions. We will do our best to will implement measures to prevent further spread of the virus and provide timely updates if the situation changes.