Japanese authorities are currently racing to contain an eventual outbreak of the Wuhan China coronavirus after it was unveiled that an infected cruise passenger flew into Tokyo Japan and spent a few days aboard a Princess cruise ship, forcing authorities to lock down the liner and quarantine thousands onboard.
The Diamond Princess ship ended her scheduled 14-day itinerary earlier and is docked off Yokohama's coast, not far from the capital of Japan. Medical officials checked room-by-room each passenger's temperature and medical condition, the health ministry said in an official statement. A number of passengers have reported feeling ill. The tests to check if they have contracted the virus takes up to five hours.
Passengers and crew were required to stay onboard until at least Tuesday night, February 4.
There are 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew members onboard, Princess Cruises announced in a statement.
The passenger who tested positive for the coronavirus is an 80-year-old man from Hong Kong. The man visited mainland China for "a few hours" on January 10. He flew into Tokyo on January 17 with his daughters, and 2 days later began developing a cough. The man boarded the cruise ship in Yokohama on January 20, and when Diamond Princess stopped back in Hong Kong on January 25 he got off and never returned. The man sought medical attention on January 30 and was diagnosed with the deadly virus shortly after. Currently, the man is in stable condition.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.