Daily US Times, Tokyo: Another 41 people have been tested positive on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan, making the total number of 61.
The cruise ship’s Diamond Princess is carrying 3,700 passengers, which is quarantined in Yokohama for at least two weeks.
An 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus. After revealing the information, Japanese health authorities decided to check the ship.
The Hong Kong man boarded the cruise ship in Yokohama on 20 January and disembarked in Hong Kong on 25 January.
Another cruise ship named World Dream has been quarantined in Hong Kong after eight former passengers caught the virus. Some 3,600 people on board of that ship but none have tested positive so far.
The new cases on the Diamond Princess bring Japan’s total number of confirmed Coronavirus cases to 86, the second-highest figure after China.
Japan’s Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said yesterday that the authorities have tested 171 people on the Diamond Princess and found 41 positives of the virus.
“Today they will be sent to hospitals in several prefectures, and we are now preparing for that”, the minister said.
Nearly 200 cases confirmed in 25 countries so far. Two people died from the virus outside of China, one in the Philippines and another one is in Hong Kong.
The US reported 11 and Canada 7 so far.
The cruise ship passengers were told earlier this week they’d have to be quarantined for 14 days and would be confined to their cabins.
One passenger David Abel said after the quarantine had begun “Having enjoyed a wonderful cruise, when we arrived in Okinawa, we had to go through a quarantine procedure and since then it has been really downhill.”
“We were informed by the captain that every passenger has to remain in their cabins, we can’t leave the cabin and we can’t walk down the corridor.”