65 New Coronavirus Instances On Japan Cruise Ship Diamond Princess Take Toll To 135

The Diamond Princess has been quarantined off the Japanese coast since it arrived early last week

Tokyo:

According to the Ministry of Health, a further 65 people on board the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess off Japan were diagnosed with a novel corona virus. The total number of known infections was 135.

The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast at the beginning of last week after the virus was discovered in a former passenger who got off the ship in Hong Kong last month.

"Test results from 103 people have now become known, of which 65 have been tested positive for the new coronavirus," the ministry said in a statement, without giving details such as nationality.

The authorities continued to test people for the virus where it was "necessary," it said.

The cruise operator said 66 people had been newly diagnosed, mostly Japanese, but there were also Australians, Filipinos and a Canadian, a British, and a Ukrainian. There was no immediate clarity on the discrepancy between this number and the Ministry of Health.

When the boat arrived in Japan, the authorities initially tested nearly 300 people for the 3,711 virus on board and gradually evacuated dozens of people who had become infected in local medical facilities.

In recent days, testing has expanded to include people with new symptoms who have had close contact with other infected passengers or crew, and several other cases have been reported over the weekend.

Those who stayed on the ship were asked to stay in their cabins and were only allowed a short time on open decks.

They were asked to wear masks and keep a distance from each other and were given thermometers to monitor their temperatures regularly.

The ship is expected to be in quarantine by February 19 – 14 days after the isolation phase begins.

"Stress and high fear"

Quarantine has made life on board the ship more difficult, especially for those in windowless cabins and a significant number of passengers who need medication for various chronic conditions.

The Ministry of Health announced on Monday that around 600 people on board urgently needed medication and around half were supplied over the weekend.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters that discussions are currently underway to increase testing capacity and whether testing will take place after passengers are released from quarantine.

The World Health Organization confirmed in a tweet that newly diagnosed cases on the ship should not extend the length of the quarantine.

"The #DiamondPrincess quarantine period expires on February 19," said the WHO in a tweet.

"Beyond February 19, the deadline may only be extended for close contacts of newly confirmed cases. You must remain in quarantine for 14 days from the last contact with a confirmed case."

On board the ship, news of the additional infections sparked some concern, and passenger Yardley Wong tweeted "Stress and Great Anxiety".

"I have to cry to get rid of the fear," she wrote.

Passengers also tweeted pictures of new supplies that were delivered to quarantined passengers on Monday: wet wipes and powerful filter face masks.

In addition to infections on board the ship, there are 26 confirmed cases of the new virus in Japan, including citizens evacuated from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak occurred.

Japan plans to send a fifth evacuation flight to Wuhan later this week.

The outbreak has created economic chaos, forcing companies to cease doing business in China and causing supply chain problems elsewhere.

Nissan announced on Monday that its Kyushu facility was making "temporary delivery adjustments" due to a shortage of parts from China.

It announced that operations at its Huadu and Dalian plants in China would resume "at the earliest on February 17".

"The restart dates for other plants are different," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and comes from a syndicated feed.)