Crew left Japan ship: Minister
With 12 new cases, UK tally rises to 35
Tokya, March 1: All crew members from a
Covid-19-stricken cruise ship off Japan have now disembarked, the country’s health minister said.
The crew began leaving the Diamond Princess on Thursday for quarantine ashore after the last of the passengers had departed.
“Including the captain, all crew members disembarked,” health minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters late Sunday.
Around 130 people — including the captain and
98 health ministry officials who were working aboard — tested negative for the virus as they left the vessel, he said. They will spend 14 days at government-designated dormitories before being allowed to leave Japan, while the vessel will be disinfected before sailing again.
At least six people who were hospitalised after being taken off the ship have died, including a British male passenger, the health ministry said.
Japan quarantined the cruise ship after an 80year-old passenger who disembarked on January
25 in Hong Kong tested positive. The quarantine has been heavily criticised after more than 700 people on board tested positive.
Kato said the government “will have to review the whole process”, but for now authorities were focusing on efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
London, March 1: British health authorities on Sunday announced 12 more confirmed cases of the new Covid-19, bringing the country’s overall tally to 35.
The government’s chief medical officer, Prof. Chris Whitty, said one of the new patients had no relevant travel and it is not yet clear whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad.
Whitty said medical workers were still investigating the cause of that one infection.
Three of the new Covid19 patients were contacts of an existing patient.
Of the remaining eight new cases, six infected people had recently traveled from Italy and two had arrived from Iran, both countries hard hit by the coronavirus that emerged late last year in central China.