Tokyo - Around 3 700 people are facing at
least two weeks locked away on a cruise liner anchored off Japan
after health officials confirmed on Wednesday that 10 people on
the ship had tested positive for coronavirus and more cases were
possible.
While the infected patients were transferred by Japan's
coastguard to hospitals on the mainland, the rest of the
passengers and crew on board the Carnival Corp ship were
placed in quarantine and given health screenings. The 10 cases
were among 31 results received so far from 273 people tested.
Passengers on Carnival's Diamond Princess, which had arrived
in Yokohama on Monday after a 14-day round trip, will now spend
another two weeks on the ship off Yokohama port near Tokyo.
They took to social media to detail their predicament,
posting photos of officials in masks and gowns conducting health
checks, room service meals and empty corridors and
decks.
British passenger David Abel said passengers were confined
to their cabins on Wednesday morning, with staff delivering food
room-by-room.
"The challenging situation for me is that I'm an insulin
dependent diabetic," Abel said in a video taken in his cabin and
posted to his Facebook page, adding that regular and timed food
intake was a key part of managing his condition.
Japan Coast Guard's patrol boat, left, is brought alongside the cruise ship Diamond Princess to take passengers tested positive for coronavirus to hospitals off Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Picture: Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News via AP
"We don't have a choice in what we can eat, the announcement
recently was that they're starting on the bottom deck and
working their way up - I'm on the ninth deck."
A 43-year-old Hong Kong resident on the ship with six family
members said they had been given coffee and water, but no food,
by lunchtime on Wednesday. They were hungry but had snacks of
their own, he said.
"I am not looking forward to the range of emotions in the
next two weeks," he told Reuters from his family's windowless
room, declining to be named. "Will deal as they come."
Another passenger, using the handle @daxa_tw, tweeted that
he was "hearing from many sides that people are troubled and
uneasy".
Separately, public broadcaster NHK said an additional two
people had tested positive in Japan. One was a man in his 40s
who was visiting Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, from China's
Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.
The other was a man in his 20s who lives in Kyoto. He had
not been to China but had contacts with Chinese tourists as he
worked in hospitality industry, NHK said. That brought the total
number of people infected in Japan to 35.
MONITORING FOR SYMPTOMS
Carnival's Princess Cruises said quarantined passengers
would get free internet and telephone services and the crew was
working to keep them comfortable.
The ship was caught up in the global coronavirus epidemic
after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man tested positive for the virus
after disembarking in Hong Kong on Jan. 25. The man had joined a
shore excursion in Kagoshima, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 22,
local media reported.
He was believed to have been in close contact with 36
passengers, Kyodo news reported, citing Japan's health ministry.
Two of those people are among the 10 who have already tested
positive, Kyodo said.
Cruise ship Diamond Princess is anchored off the shore of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Health Minister Nobukatsu Kato said all the 3,700 people and passengers on the ship will be quarantined on board for up to 14 days under Japanese law. Picture: Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News via AP
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said officials would continue
to monitor the remaining passengers and crew for the potential
development of symptoms.
None of the 10 infected people - three each from Japan and
Hong Kong, two Australians, one American and one Filipino crew
member - had severe symptoms, NHK reported.
FREE TRIP, RED WINE
Carnival said quarantined passengers would get a full refund
and a future cruise credit.
The ship would go out to sea to perform "normal marine
operations", it added, including the production of fresh water,
before receiving food and other supplies from Yokohama.
Not all passengers were overly concerned about their
situation. American Ashley Rhodes-Courter posted a text message
exchange on Instagram with her parents, Gay and Phil Courter,
who are on board the ship.
"The food is great, the staff is in good spirits and we're
all in the same boat," the couple said. "Plus, they have not run
out of some great Pinot noir."