Japan started naming people who breach its COVID-19 rules, hoping to shame others into complying

• Japan is publicly naming people who don't follow coronavirus rules.
• It named three people it said deliberately avoided authorities when returning from abroad.
• Japan had threatened to release the names of rule breakers back in May.

Japan is hoping to get people to follow its COVID-19 rules by publicly naming those who break them.

The country's public health ministry on Monday released the names of three people who it said broke the rules after returning from abroad on July 21.

The list included two Japanese nationals in their 20s who arrived from South Korea, and one person in their 30s who arrived from Hawaii. The two nationals who arrived from South Korea were located in the Kumamoto and Saitama prefectures, while the arrival from Hawaii was in Tokyo, the document said.

All three tested negative upon arrival but did not respond to subsequent follow-up calls from health authorities, the document said.

The health ministry said they deliberately tried to avoid contact with health authorities after returning to Japan, The New York Times reported.

Japanese officials had said in May that people who don't properly answer to authorities after returning from abroad could have their names disclosed to the public. Monday's document shows Japan acting on that threat for the first time.

The document comes amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.