Japan’s health ministry said today another 60 people were confirmed to have Coronavirus on the quarantined cruise ship, bringing the total of those infected to 130. More than 2,500 passengers, among 3,600 people, are confined for 14-day to their cabins and many are likely to face further tests.
Health ministry officials said the exact numbers yet to be confirmed. The ship expected to remain in quarantine in Yokohama until February 19.
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British passenger David Able said in a video posted on Facebook. “Lots of the passengers now are getting a bit of cabin fever. Depression is starting to set in.”
An Hong Kong resident quarantined with several of his family said: “I will get nervous if we pass 200.”
Israeli passengers quarantined on the ship told Ynet last week there is a lot of confusion as the personnel of the cruise line did not make the instructions clear to them. “We do not understand the information the ship’s crew are telling us and whether we’re supposed to stay in our cabin for 14 days,” said Nicole Ben David, who is with her mother on the ship.
Health officials previously said 70 people had the virus among the 3,711 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess, quarantined in the port of Yokohama, near Tokyo.
According to Japan’s health minister, Katsunobu Kato, five of the six new cases announced Sunday aboard the ship are crew assigned to restaurants, bars or housekeeping. Japanese health authorities deliver medicine requested by more than 600 passengers. “We are doing the utmost to keep everyone in good health,” Kato said.
The mainland death toll rose by 97 to 908. Two more fatalities were reported outside the country.
China’s health ministry reported another 3,062 cases, a rise in Coronavirus on Monday. That was up 15% from Saturday and broke a string of daily declines.
Meanwhile, the mother of Li Wenliang, 34, the physician who died last week in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, said she wants an explanation from authorities who reprimanded her son for warning about the virus.
Wenliang’s death prompted an outpouring of public anger. Some postings left on his microblog account said officials should face consequences for mistreating Li. “We won’t give up if they don’t give us an explanation,” said Lu Shuyun in the video distributed by Pear Video, an online broadcast platform, Reuters reports.
China has built two hospitals for virus patients in Wuhan and sent thousands of extra doctors, nurses and other health care workers to the city of 11 million people. Most access to Wuhan was suspended Jan. 23 and restrictions were expanded since then ave spread to cities with a total of 60 million people.
The fatality toll has passed the 774 people believed to have died in the 2002-03 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, another viral outbreak that originated in China. The total of 40,171 confirmed cases of the new virus vastly exceeds the 8,098 sickened by SARS.
Outside mainland China
More than 360 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China.
Reuters, Ynet
