Japan cruise ship virus cases climb to 174

Yokohama, February 12

Another 39 persons aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for coronavirus, the authorities said on Wednesday, as thousands more steel themselves for a second week in quarantine. With 174 confirmed cases, the ship that arrived with over 3,700 passengers and crew, has become the largest single cluster of the newly named “COVID-19” virus outside its origin in China, where it has killed more than 1,100. Passengers and crew are now halfway through a 14-day quarantine that is due to end on February 19 and have been mostly confined to their quarters, aside from being allowed brief periods on deck while wearing face masks. “You sit out on the balcony and you hear people coughing all the way along,” British passenger Sally Abel said in a video streamed on Facebook. “It is nothing like a holiday, but it is complete relaxation,” she added. Fellow passenger Yardley Wong tweeted: “Anxiety uprisen” on news of the new cases, saying she didn’t know whether she or her family might be next. Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters early Wednesday that the 39 new positive cases came from 53 additional test results. He said a quarantine officer was among those diagnosed, with the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reporting he had not been wearing a full protective suit while carrying out tests before the quarantine period began on February 5. Kato also revealed there were four persons in hospital in serious condition, either on a ventilator or in intensive care. The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast early last week after the virus was detected in a former passenger who got off the ship in Hong Kong. Passengers have been asked to keep a distance from each other when out of their cabins, and given thermometers to regularly monitor their own temperatures. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Japan was expanding its ban on travellers to Zhejiang province. AFP