174 cruisers on quarantined Carnival Corp. ship tested positive for coronavirus
Another 39 people on a quarantined Carnival Corporation cruise ship outside Tokyo tested positive for coronavirus Tuesday, bringing the total number of people on board infected to 174.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship has been quarantined in the Yokohama, Japan port since Feb. 4 when it arrived there with 3,711 people on board. Princess Cruises, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp., said in a statement that the company is working with the Japanese health ministry to disembark infected cruisers. Among the 174 infected people with the newly named COVID-19 virus are 32 U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo.
Ten passengers who do not have the coronavirus have been evacuated from the ship to local hospitals for treatment of other illnesses, the company said. One of the newly infected people is a Japanese health official, the government said in a statement Wednesday.
Thousands of passengers and crew members have been holed up in the cruise ship for eight straight days, some unable to leave their cabins. Crystal River, Florida, residents Gay and Phil Courter, both in their 70s, are among the quarantined passengers. On Tuesday, the couple sent their son photographs from the ship showing people in hazmat suits preparing a covered walkway from the ship to a bus. A dinner menu delivered to the Courter’s cabin Wednesday shows meatball, ravioli, and nasi goreng (fried rice) dishes available for lunch, and pork curry, cod and vegetable quiche dishes available for dinner.
Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz sent a message to crew members Tuesday announcing that when the quarantine is over, crew members will have two months of paid time off. The statement, published by the blog Crew Center, said the company will provide crew members with flights home.
The quarantine is scheduled to end on Feb. 19, but the World Health Organization has warned that it may be extended for people who were in close contact with those who have tested positive for coronavirus.
Another Carnival Corp. cruise, Holland America Line’s Westerdam, which departed Hong Kong on Feb. 1 with 2,257 people on board, has been floating at sea since Feb. 6, when Japan turned the ship away. The Philippines, Taiwan and the U.S. territory of Guam also barred the ship from docking. After searching for a country that would allow the ship to dock for several days, the company announced on Monday that it would arrive in Bangkok, Thailand on Feb. 13 to end the cruise. But the public health minister of Thailand announced on Facebook Tuesday that the country would not allow the ship to dock either.
Cambodia said Wednesday that the ship will be allowed to dock in the city of Sihanoukville on Thursday and passengers will be allowed to disembark and travel home.
“All approvals have been received and we are extremely grateful to the Cambodian authorities for their support,” Holland America Line said in a statement. The company said there are no suspected cases of coronavirus on board.
Passenger Christina Kerby posted a video on Twitter of people on board celebrating the news that they would finally be able to touch land.
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that has killed more than 1,100 people worldwide and has infected more than 45,000 people across 29 countries, including the United States, since it was first identified in Wuhan, China in December. The majority of those who are infected live in China.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 12:06 PM.
