The first coronavirus-infected individual was recorded in Japan on January 15. Shortly before, the person visited the inland Chinese city of Wuhan, considered to be the epicenter for the disease's outbreak.

The second person is a Chinese tourist, who also arrived from Wuhan on January 19 and visited a hospital on the next day over a fever, the NHK broadcaster reported. Doctors found no signs of pneumonia then, but on Wednesday, he was hospitalized, and on Friday, the new coronavirus was confirmed.

The unknown type of pneumonia was first detected in Wuhan in late December. Chinese experts later tentatively determined that this was a new strain of coronavirus, currently being labeled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. More than 800 cases have already been confirmed across China, with 25 people having died of the disease.

Confirmed cases of new coronavirus have also been recorded in the United States, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. On Thursday, the World Health Organization said it was too early to declare a global emergency over the outbreak.