Japan lets elderly passengers leave cruise ship for quarantine on land
Published on: Saturday, February 15, 2020
By: AFP
A bus with a driver (left) wearing protective gear departs from the dockside next to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which has around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new Covid-19, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port.
YOKOHAMA: Japan on Friday began allowing elderly passengers who test negative for the new coronavirus to leave a quarantined cruise ship and finish their isolation in government-designated lodging.Japan’s government has given passengers aged 80 or older in poor health or confined to windowless inner cabins on the Diamond Princess the chance to move from the ship to accommodation on land.
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But only those who test negative for the virus that has so far infected more than 200 people on board the ship have the option to move.
The first of them departed the massive cruise ship on Friday afternoon, travelling in buses with blacked out windows.
At the wheel, one driver was dressed in a head-to-toe white protective suit, complete with goggles and mask.
A government official said 11 people had left, but declined to say whether more would depart Friday or offer further details. The move comes a day after the number of infections diagnosed on the ship rose to 218.
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