COVID-19 cases on Diamond Princess ship rise to 355: Japan official
16 February, 2020
The number of folks who've tested positive for COVID-19 on a quarantined ship off Japan's coast has increased to 355, the country's health minister said Sunday (Feb 16).
"So far, we have conducted tests for 1,219 individuals. Of these, 355 people tested positive. Of these, 73 folks are not showing symptoms," Katsunobu Kato told a roundtable discussion on public broadcaster NHK - a rise of 70 from the last government toll.
The new figures came as the United States was preparing to evacuate some of its citizens from the Diamond Princess, which has experienced quarantine since Feb 5 in the port of Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Hong Kong also said it would offer its 330 citizens up to speed the chance to have a charter flight back. Canada, too, announced an identical decision to repatriate its nationals on the ship.
Japan's efforts to regulate the viral infections on the vessel have prompted international concern.
The cruise liner arrived off japan coast in early February with an increase of than 3,700 passengers and crew members from a lot more than 50 countries and regions.
It was put under quarantine after authorities discovered that a passenger who got off the boat in Hong Kong during its voyage tested positive for the virus.
Officials kept finding new infections among the passengers and crew members and transporting them to Japanese hospitals, while some have been told to remain inside their individual cabins through the 14-day quarantine period, that ought to end on Wednesday.
Japan is not able to test all those on board because of limited supplies of testing kits, facilities and manpower that are also needed by authorities tracking the spread of the virus among the general population.
"Based on the lot of COVID-19 cases identified onboard the Diamond Princess, the Department of Health and Human Services made an assessment that passengers and crew members onboard are in risky of exposure," the united states embassy said in a letter to its passengers.
The US, Canada and Hong Kong said those repatriated will proceed through another two-week quarantine period at home.
The captain of the Diamond Princess has told passengers that japan government might start testing them for the virus from Tuesday, and those with negative results will be allowed to log off the ship from Friday.
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