Coronavirus threat halts cruise ships
Evacuations continue as official death toll rises to 490 on mainland China
Beijing — Thousands of passengers were stranded on two cruise ships in Japan and Hong Kong on Wednesday due to reports of coronavirus infections on board, as countries around the world continued to fly their citizens out of the epicenter of the outbreak.
The official death toll from the disease on mainland China rose to 490 on Wednesday, with 24,324 people confirmed infected. One person has died in Hong Kong, and another in the Philippines.
Japan confirmed that at least 10 people on a cruise ship had been infected with the new coronavirus. The patients were from Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines.
They were being taken to hospital in Kanagawa prefecture, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said.
About 3,700 passengers and crew members were to remain on the Diamond Princess ship for another 14 days, he said.
A previous passenger from Hong Kong was confirmed to have the virus on Saturday after disembarking from the ship there. This brought the total number of infections to 33 in Japan, where organizers of this year’s Olympics have said they are “very worried” about the impact of the outbreak.
A cruise ship with 1,800 people on board also was being held at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak cruise terminal after officials in China informed the cruise operator that three previous passengers had tested positive for the coronavirus. The ship arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning after Taiwanese officials refused entry.
Authorities said they were carrying out testing and sterilization on board. Three crew members with a fever were placed in isolation in a Hong Kong hospital, and more than 20 crew members who reported symptoms were being examined, according to local broadcaster RTHK.
Evacuations were continuing, meanwhile, from the source of the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with the United States and Russia flying out hundreds of their citizens.
Two U.S. flights departed Wuhan en route to military air bases in California, bringing the total number of people evacuated in the last week to more than 500, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesperson. Another flight was scheduled to leave Wuhan today.