YOKOHAMA, Japan, Feb 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least 61 people on board a
cruise ship off Japan have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the
government said Friday, as thousands of passengers and crew face a two-week
quarantine.
An additional 41 passengers were found to have contracted the virus, which
has killed hundreds of people, most of them in China, and infected more than
30,000 on the mainland.
Japanese authorities have so far tested 273 people on board the Diamond
Princess, which was quarantined after a former passenger, who disembarked in
Hong Kong last month, was diagnosed with the virus.
“The results of the remaining 171 tests came out and 41 tested positive,”
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters.
“Today they will be sent to hospitals in several prefectures, and we are
now preparing for that.”
The newly diagnosed include 21 Japanese, as well as Americans, Canadians,
Australians, an Argentine and a Briton.
There were more than 3,700 passengers and crew on the ship when it arrived
off Japan’s coast on Monday evening. It docked in Yokohama on Thursday to
resupply for a quarantine that could last until February 19.
Twenty people who were earlier diagnosed with the virus have already been
removed from the vessel, including one in serious condition, a health
ministry official said, without providing further details.
Testing was initially carried out on those who displayed symptoms or had
come into close contact with the former passenger diagnosed with the virus.
But Kato suggested testing would now be expanded to those “who are
susceptible to illness, including elderly people and those with other
ailments, as well as those who had close contact with the people newly
diagnosed with the virus.”
There were no immediate details on how many people would meet those
criteria or when the testing might take place.
– ‘Disheartening’ –
Japan has already reported at least 25 cases of coronavirus aside from the
infections on board the ship, and evacuated hundreds of citizens from Wuhan,
the Chinese city where the virus emerged, including on a fourth flight
Friday.
Passengers on the ship have been asked to stay inside their cabins to
prevent new infections, and have expressed confusion and frustration about a
quarantine expected to last until February 19.
American attorney Matt Smith, 57, and his wife Katherine, are among the
luckier passengers, in a suite with their own balcony. But he told AFP that
the 14-day quarantine was a “hard pill to swallow.”
“My thought is, the greater number they diagnose on the ship, the greater
chance they’re going to find some reason to extend the quarantine,” he added.
“It’s a little disheartening.”
Passengers in windowless inside cabins have been allowed only onto open
decks briefly, under strict conditions, including wearing a mask at all
times.
“The quarantine officials require that you avoid congregating in large
groups and maintain a separation of at least one metre from each other when
talking,” the ship’s captain said in an announcement on Friday morning.
“We require that you wear as a minimum, warm clothing, hat and a scarf if
possible,” he added.
Crew are wearing masks and gloves when they deliver meals, Smith said, and
on Friday thermometers were distributed to passengers, who were asked to
notify staff of temperatures over 37.5 Celsius.
While some passengers have reportedly urged their governments to
intervene, Smith said he understood the measures.
“The Japanese government is going to do what it can to prevent this virus,
just as the US is doing in its borders,” he said.
A second cruise ship carrying a passenger suspected of infection with the
new virus is headed towards Japan, and authorities said they would ask it to
avoid docking.
Four other ships are scheduled to arrive in Japan this month, and would
also be asked to turn back if infections are reported on board, Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe said.