by News Desk
TOKYO (The Japan News/ANN) - The health ministry has confirmed that another 41 passengers aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess at Yokohama Port are infected with the new coronavirus.
Following an examination of those showing symptoms that could match the infection, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry found that 41 people tested positive for the coronavirus.
The number of confirmed infections on board has reached a total of 61 since the cruise liner arrived at Yokohama Port Monday night. After setting sail from Yokohama Port on Jan. 20, a man who disembarked at his home port, Hong Kong, was found to have been infected with the coronavirus. Since learning of the infection, the ministry has begun testing the 273 people on board, including those with viral infection symptoms.
The 61 people who have tested positive include 28 Japanese, 11 Americans, seven Australians, seven Canadians, three from Hong Kong, and one each from Taiwan, the Philippines, Argentina, New Zealand and Britain. One of the 61 is a crew member.
The 41 passengers who were diagnosed with coronavirus Friday were to be taken to medical institutions in Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures. The remaining 3,650 people are required to stay on board the ship at anchor for 14 days, in principle. They are expected to disembark on Feb. 19 at the earliest. Taking the views of experts into account, the ministry is considering additional testing for elderly passengers who would become more severely ill should they be infected.
763 have been flown back to Japan
The fourth government-chartered plane carrying Japanese residents and their Chinese spouses arrived from Hubei Province, China, at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Friday morning.
Most Japanese residents in Hubei Province desiring to return to Japan have been able to do so. The list of 198 travelers who returned on this day included 119 Japanese nationals, 77 Chinese citizens and two Taiwanese. A total of 763 people have returned on government-chartered flights, including on three arrivals from Jan. 28 to 30. “Most of the Japanese people in Hubei Province who wanted to return home have returned,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a Friday-morning press conference. There are still some people in Hubei Province who want to return home, and the government will continue to support their repatriation.
In addition to Hubei Province, 15 cities, including Chongqing and other municipalities in Zhejiang, Shandong, Heilongjiang and Jiangsu provinces, have taken measures to restrict travel, according to the Foreign Ministry. The ministry on Thursday issued overseas travel safety information (spot safety information), advising Japanese residents in China to return temporarily to Japan as soon as possible.
