One of the passengers aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off the Japanese port of Yokohama due to coronavirus asserted on Friday that the situation on the vessel remains calm.
“The ship is quiet. No other passengers are in sight”, the passenger nicknamed @daxa_tw tweeted, adding that the passengers are still not allowed to leave their rooms.
数独が届いています。今日は折り紙はありませんでした。Sudoku has arrived. There was no origami today.#DiamondPrincess #クルーズ船 #ダイヤモンドプリンセス #コロナウイルス #新型コロナウイルス #肺炎 #新型肺炎 pic.twitter.com/zdtL3pTFON
— だぁ(On board the Diamond Princess / 乗船中) (@daxa_tw) February 8, 2020
昼ごはん届きました。豆腐と野菜の炒め物。 lunch.Stir-fried tofu and vegetables 15:32 #ダイヤモンドプリンセス #diamondprincess pic.twitter.com/fLedQXH1uY
— だぁ(On board the Diamond Princess / 乗船中) (@daxa_tw) February 6, 2020
I’d like to share what it’s like on board the Diamond Princess cruise. Please use this page to exchange info. #DiamondPrincess #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/wRLdy63suj
— だぁ(On board the Diamond Princess / 乗船中) (@daxa_tw) February 5, 2020
The user also tweeted that he had not been tested for the virus yet and that “only those who had temperatures above 37.5 ℃ were checked”.
Another passenger, nicknamed Hia Brooks, remained more upbeat on the situation, writing on her Facebook page that “things are looking up” and that “we've got everything we need now”.
“We're in cruise mode. Please don't worry about us, we're having fun! Thank you Diamond Princess Crew! You all are doing an awesome job! You are the very best. You all are the reason we keep coming back”, she noted.
David Abel, a passenger from the United Kingdom, in turn, posted “beautiful sunset” in Yokohama on his Facebook account on Thursday, writing that “passengers with inside cabins are now allowed to walk on the deck for 1.5 hours under the supervision of the quarantine officers”.
According to him, the passengers “must stay one metre apart from one another and not make contact or congregate in groups”.
Earlier, Abdel told the broadcaster that the ship’s captain said on the public address system on Tuesday that the passengers could not leave their cabins for any reason, and that all food would be delivered by the ship’s crew.
Number of Coronavirus Cases Aboard Cruise Ship Rises to 61 - Report
Japan's NHK broadcaster has meanwhile cited the country’s Health Ministry as saying that the number of people infected with novel coronavirus on board the cruise ship had already climbed to 61.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato advised that the Diamond Princess ship would be quarantined for two weeks, and that all passengers would be required to remain on board. There are some 3,700 people on board the vessel, including 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members.
The outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new strain of coronavirus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province in December and has since spread to more than 25 countries.
Right now, there are more than 31,000 people, mainly in China, infected by coronavirus; about 722 of them did not survive. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease’s fatality rate is significantly less than that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus.
