With Coronavirus being an ongoing issue, some countries are taking many precautions to keep their citizens safe from disease. An extreme example of this has played out over the last two weeks just outside Tokyo, Japan.
Since the start of this month, the Diamond Princess cruise ship has been plagued with Coronavirus. The cruise was supposed to be a standard 14-day round trip from Yokohama, Japan. The ship departed on Jan. 20 and returned on Feb. 4 with a total of 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew onboard, according to the cruise line’s official website.
The first diagnosis of the virus was confirmed on Feb. 1. A Hong Kong guest had embarked with the ship on Jan. 20 before departing on Jan. 25 in Hong Kong. He was soon after confirmed to have the virus, causing the ship to begin taking precautions to determine if the other cruise members had been exposed. Three days later, the ship docked in Yokohama, but was delayed from releasing its passengers for 24 hours in order to allow Japanese health officials to determine if the passengers were healthy. The website reported at 6 PM that night that ten passengers had tested positive for Coronavirus, including “two Australian guests, three Japanese guests, three guests from Hong Kong, and one guest from the U.S. in addition to one Filipino crewmember.”
This would be the start of a 15 day quarantine of the ship, which saw the cruise ship trying its best to keep guests placated with entertainment. There were another 624 cases confirmed over the next 15 days, according to CNN.com. NPR reported that 44 of these cases were United States citizens.
The cruise released a guest disembarkation plan on Feb. 12, which would allow guests that tested negative for the virus to leave the ship and finish the quarantine period on shore, starting with guests that were seen as most at risk. On Feb. 15, The U.S. Department of State announced they would “[charter] aircraft to bring all American persons (guests and crew) who are either citizens or permanent residents, currently quarantined on Diamond Princess, back to the United States.” Two days later, The Government of Canada released a similar announcement regarding their citizens on board. Australia followed the lead of the two North American countries the next day.
Quarantine ended on Feb. 20, allowing the start of departure for guests who tested negative for the disease. These guests will be required to test negative before being allowed to depart from Japan and are required to have an additional 14 days of quarantine once they return to their countries of origin. All guests were compensated for their troubles and gifted a future cruise credit equal to the cost of the voyage.
According to NPR, 14 of the U.S. passengers who returned to the country have tested positive for the virus. These evacuees have been placed in containment and will be tested further over the next two weeks.
CNN reported that the cruise unfortunately confirmed two deaths from the virus on Feb. 20. Both deceased were in their eighties. They join the over 2,000 confirmed deaths caused by the virus worldwide, mainly in China. As this number rises, we can expect countries holding the disease out of their mainland as best they can.
Graphic: Shaniah Garrick/ The Johnsonian
