Some 100 passengers who have had close contact with people who had contracted the coronavirus left the cruise ship Diamond Princess on Saturday, 22 February. They will have to spend another two weeks in quarantine in Japan. Another infected passenger died, bringing the total to three deaths.
The Diamond Princess has been in a Japanese port since the beginning of February. The authorities placed the ship under quarantine because of the virus outbreak, but since Wednesday 19 February people who do not have the virus are allowed to disembark. Approximately 970 passengers have departed in the last few days.
Over 630 infected, 3 dead
More than 630 people have been infected on board the ship. According to broadcaster NHK, the 100 or so people who are now disembarking shared a cabin with someone who did have the virus. Television footage shows people leaving in a bus with closed curtains.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has reported seventy crew have been infected with the virus.
On Sunday 23 February, it was announced a third passenger of the cruise ship died after contracting the new coronavirus. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, this is a Japanese man in his eighties. The man had been taken to a hospital when it appeared that he had contracted the virus. He also had other health problems and the official cause of death was pneumonia, reports the ministry. The two passengers who died earlier were also elderly people from Japan.
Crew to leave ship as well
There are still non-Japanese passengers on the ship. They are waiting for their repatriation.
There are also about a thousand crew members on board. They’ve been distributing meals for the past few weeks for example. The ITF has said, however, that all crew will be allowed to leave the ship to be replaced by a voluntary team of new seafarers. Preparations for the predominately Filipino and Indonesian crew to be repatriated home will begin in the coming days. They will possibly be quarantined first, before being allowed to fly home.
Source: ANP
