Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday ordered all elementary and secondary schools across Japan to be temporarily closed from March 2 till the end of spring break to contain the spread of COVID-19.

"Children's health and safety must be taken as priority," said Abe during a meeting at the Prime Minister's residence.

"Efforts have been made to prevent the spread of infection among children in each region, and these one or two weeks will be an extremely critical period."

The order came after Hokkaido prefecture, the first among all prefectures, shut down all its public elementary and junior high schools on Thursday following the prefecture's first COVID-19 fatality on Wednesday.

As of Thursday, confirmed COVID-19 cases have increased to 918 in Japan, including 705 infected patients related to the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship, and the fatalities have increased to eight.

(Cover image: Students take a class in Japan. /VCG)