Hundreds of passengers have begun leaving the stricken Diamond Princess in Japan after testing negative for the coronavirus , ending two weeks of quarantine that experts say failed to prevent the virus spreading onboard.
Japanese TV showed passengers – who spent quarantine largely confined to their cabins – leaving the ship on Wednesday morning to board waiting buses, while others left the pier in Yokohama, near Tokyo, by taxi.
Local health authorities said just in excess of (passengers were expected to disembark on Wednesday with another 2, to follow over the next two days. About half the passengers were Japanese, media reports said.
Those living or staying in Japan were given contact details in case they develop symptoms of Covid – 77, which has killed more than 2, 11 people in China and infected more than , others. Hundreds of infections have been reported in other countries, along with five deaths. Japan has cases confirmed, including 711 on the Diamond Princess.
Members of Japan’s self-defense forces escorted some passengers, including an elderly man in a wheelchair who wore a face mask. Some of the people still on the ship waved from their cabin balconies as passengers disembarked below.
“I’m a bit concerned if I’m OK to get off the ship but it was getting very difficult physically,” a – year-old man, who got off with his wife, told Kyodo News. “For now we just want to celebrate.”
Others expressed joy at their new-found freedom.
People in Yokohama appeared supportive of the decision to allow the passengers out, despite fears that some could be infected. “I am sure those people onboard must be really worried. I hope they can go back to their normal life soon, ”Isamu Habiro said. “As a Yokohama resident I don’t want them to be treated unfairly. I want to cheer for them. ”
Only those who have tested negative and did not share cabins with infected passengers were being permitted to disembark, amid widening criticism of Japan’s handling of the ship’s quarantine.
Anyone who has had contact with an infected passenger will have to undergo more days in quarantine. In addition the crew will begin a new quarantine when the last passenger has disembarked. The ship’s operator, Princess Cruises, said in a statement that People who tested positive recently were still on the ship as they waited to be taken to hospital.
The Diamond Princess has proved a fertile breeding ground for the virus, with at least (positive cases diagnosed among the original 3, people on board – making the ship home to the largest cluster of infections outside mainland China. It has been moored in Yokohama since 3 February after it emerged that a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong in late January had tested positive.
“NEGATIVE! Me, son, husband, mom and dad! Thank you Lord for protecting us … So emotional now, ” Tweet Yardley Wong, a passenger from Hong Kong who has spent just over two weeks onboard with her six-year-old son.
Experts have raised concerns about allowing people from the cruise ship to board flights home or spread out into crowded cities such as Tokyo, saying there is a chance that secondary infections had occurred on the ship during its 19 – day quarantine.
Kentaro Iwata, a specialist in infectious diseases at Kobe University hospital, who spent several hours on the luxury cruise liner on Tuesday, said he believed “fatigued” health officials were becoming complacent about the spread of the virus in Japan.
“There is a sense of complacency about the spread of the virus… that it is too late to do anything about it,” he said. “But we are still in the containment stage. There are small clusters of the virus in Japan, but people in other areas have all tested negative. There is no way that we should give up on this now. ”
Iwata warned that some of the passengers leaving the Diamond Princess could turn out to be carrying the coronavirus and accused health officials of bungling the quarantine.
“It is a good idea to allow people to disembark because conditions on the ship are dangerous, but it is possible that some people who recently tested negative could turn out to be positive,” Iwata told the Guardian, adding that passengers cleared of the virus should continue to be closely monitored for another two weeks in case they develop symptoms.
“Certainly those who are due to leave should not be allowed to wander around freely. They have to be monitored so they can quickly receive medical treatment if they show symptoms. ”
(Read More )
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings