Number of infections on virus-hit ship in Yokohama up 70 to 355

These people should not be on the ship! Please get them off that incubator and to a PROPER quarantine station!!! Did a net search and only this ship is getting worse. The world is watching.

And what happens to the staff and other personnel who are non paying customers? Will they be flown out? Will Japan, British cruise ship owner or their respective countries evacuate them while footing the cost for any necessary treatment in a medical facility?

You have to wonder if quarantining them on the ship infected many more people than in a specific quarantine facility or quarantined their own homes. Getting food delivered by staff that interact with every passenger several times a day and/or the air circulation system could have contributed to the increased rate of infections.

Now in hindsight, although keeping the mainland safe is in the greater interest by far...this could have been handled better and sadly, many people caught the virus needlessly, by being confined to the ship.

is anyone really surprised that this is spreading in such a confined space? Wtf. Is there no other option for them than waiting for the virus to spread to everyone on the ship?

The whole cruise ship issue is a lose-lose scenario. Move them all off the ship and you risk spread on land. The standard textbook approach to containing a contagious disease is to isolate the infected group. But with the number of passengers, being a foregn ship with many foreign nationals, and the fact that ships themselves are a highly contageous closed environment, with limited medical support availability, the who thing looks like a mess.

This is the result of irrational panic reactions to this hype virus. More people will get the virus, and probably some will die as a result of this outrageous movement based 100% in panic.

I really was appalled when I discovered that people where been kept in the boat. I knew it was only going to get more people to get the virus, not to mention that it is a violation of basic human rights.

This is not the way you do quarantine. I could understand it if the virus was so deadly that you are willing to sacrifice all the people on the boat for the "greater good", but as the mortality and overall risk rate of the virus is low, this is just an overblown reaction, not to mention that useless, since there are already confirmed cases of the virus in Japan that cannot be associated with any known contact, which means that the virus is already finding ground within the country.

This action makes no sense. There are many other ways to try to contain the virus, if that's what you are worrying about, but the normal rational and calm risk assessment measures are all gone because of popular panic.

Politicians will look bad if they take rational measures, and will get praise if they take more radical measures, even if they make no sense, and are violations of basic human rights. Sadly this is one of the bad points of a democratic system. If irrationality and fear spreads in the general population, policy starts to reflect this.

Americans on the ship will be transported to the State Department-chartered planes at Tokyo's Haneda airport. The planes are scheduled to leave on Monday.

No they won’t. It was just reported that the Americans will spend another two weeks in quarantine on military bases here in Japan.

This is the result of irrational panic reactions to this hype virus. More people will get the virus, and probably some will die as a result of this outrageous movement based 100% in panic.

I wouldn't go as far as putting it irrational in trying to save one's own life, unless we have more than 1. True some will die but I as well as many others have much to live for vs sitting down and doing nothing but wait to die. Time will tell, but hey give us a post once you test and are confirmed as positive, curious if you can provide a play by play and what medications are given as well as outcome. So far no cure yet.

The ratio of infections is about 30%. Say the number of total infection is 1100. Instead of letting out that information by testing all with these numbers, the Japanese government figures it’ll be easier announce it slowly; 30 infected, 69, 110, 150, 210, 355, 380, 463, 521. 589, 644, 711, 756, 836, 874, 923, 958, 1002, and 1100 each day.

Instead getting to the bottom of this, we get to watch the numbers climb Dailey with the partial testing. It’s the government’s kind and gentle way of letting out the bad news. DWS.

The Japanese government’s action is slow, clueless and inhumane.

The resultant number of infected passengers speaks for itself.

If Tokyo can’t handle one ship then how much more the Olympic Titanic?

@ The Japanese government’s action is slow, clueless and inhumane.

You may feel that way about the GOJ, but at least its not being watered down or kept under the table, as the NYT posted Chinese authorities have acknowledged for the first time that Mr. Xi was aware of the epidemic and involved in the response nearly two weeks before he first spoke publicly about it — and while officials at its epicenter in the city of Wuhan were still playing down its dangers.

Ok so from what I gather and anyone can help me right along, 1. Chinese authorities have acknowledged Mr. XI was aware of the epidemic 2 weeks prior. This gives insider information that wasn't shared to the public. 2. officials onsite at Wuhan continued to water down the dangers that has led to not only deaths in Wuhan, the rest of China but the entire world. Seems to me this is a start in what could be repercussions due to those who have become contaminated, died and possibly others like us at high risk of becoming infected due to the negligence from high level officials who were in the know and took no action until too late. More so, what and why was this country allowed to experiment with this known deadly virus in the first place and to what gains? Surely not monetary for a cure as there was no known cases such as this Coronavirus pathogen/contagion. Someone needs to pay and it sure as well cannot be the WHO whom are too favorable towards China's leaders.

The ratio of infections is about 30%. Say the number of total infection is 1100. Instead of letting out that information by testing all with these numbers, the Japanese government figures it’ll be easier announce it slowly; 30 infected, 69, 110, 150, 210, 355, 380, 463, 521. 589, 644, 711, 756, 836, 874, 923, 958, 1002, and 1100 each day.

Instead getting to the bottom of this, we get to watch the numbers climb Dailey with the partial testing. It’s the government’s kind and gentle way of letting out the bad news. DWS.

So you'd rather them make up some numbers instead of reporting the facts?

This is the result of irrational panic reactions to this hype virus. More people will get the virus, and probably some will die as a result of this outrageous movement based 100% in panic.

Listen folks, just because the number is going up doesn't mean they all got infected since the quarantine started. It's possible some did but most simply weren't tested yet. This isn't rocket science.

If people test negative and have no health problems, they will be allowed to disembark when the quarantine period ends Wednesday.

Given the nature of this ""quarantine"" the above is VERY BAD idea! 

You will notice American's & I suspect Canadians will begin their quarantines AGAIN once back in their respective countries!

What is very confusing is no one died out of the 355, yet...

Is it because that would cause panic on board if they tell some young persons died too ?

Keeping information in the shadow will make later a nuclear bomb if ever vurus spreads in Japan.

The crew is in so bad position but what else can be done?

You can't put a guard being each passenger !

Praying for them and for China and all those affected.

@rgcivilian1

China is a backward , brutal dictatorship while Japan is a modern and da-kine rich cultured democracy.

Supposedly...

@rgciviluan1

@ The Japanese government’s action is slow, clueless and inhumane.

You may feel that way about the GOJ, but at least its not being watered down or kept under the table, 

That said, what is your opinion of the Japanese government’s handling of the epidemic?

Do you think it’s slow, clueless, and I humans?

China is a backward , brutal dictatorship while Japan is a modern and da-kine rich cultured democracy.

Compared to the brutal dictatorship of China, Japan is a paragon of liberal democracy.

This ship is not a quarantine station, it is an incubation station. The Japanese authorities has done Japan a disservice.

I hope there's a class comin'.

This ship is not a quarantine station, it is an incubation station. 

no it's not.

Some have likened the ship to a floating petri dish.

The spread of this dreadful virus on the ship is rampant. Outside of Wuhan, this ship is the most dangerous place to catch COVID-19. It is, quite simply, hell on that ship.

Get ALL passengers off and into quarantine ASAP. Lives will be saved - fact. The Americans are doing the right thing by getting their citizens off, and into quarantine in Japan on one of their bases.

Keeping the Healthy next to the Sick seems rather an illogical approach of quarantine.

Bugle Boy of Company BToday  05:34 pm JST

Americans on the ship will be transported to the State Department-chartered planes at Tokyo's Haneda airport. The planes are scheduled to leave on Monday.

No they won’t. It was just reported that the Americans will spend another two weeks in quarantine on military bases here in Japan.

And about 90 minutes after you posted that, NHK News7 reported ... well, nothing of the kind.

It reported that the Americans are being bused to Haneda Airport pretty much as I speak.

I'm guessing you read that on some unreliable, "alternative new" site or something. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, as Julius Caesar once said.

While the situation on the Diamond Princess has been handled relatively responsibly, just read on the New York Times that we are closer to a pandemic because the passengers on the Holland America liner Westerdam were released in Cambodia without quarantine. After more than a hundred passengers boarded airplanes for destinations around the world, it was found that one passenger still in country tested positive for the new virus. If any of those who flew out of Cambodia were contagious, things could get very bad. Maybe we will be lucky, and only the one passenger was infected.

Even in the worst case scenario, the infected won't exceed 3700 people. It's not so bad if u think about how many got infected in China

Not everyone can remain in a cage without worry.

And in other news, 6 more people tested positive for the virus in Japan today, 5 in the Tokyo area and one more in Aichi.

8...

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13131364

OssanAmericaToday  05:26 pm JST

The whole cruise ship issue is a lose-lose scenario. Move them all off the ship and you risk spread on land. 

All seemed to have worked out fine for the hundreds of Japanese Mr. Abe had flown into the country.

@ quercetum:That said, what is your opinion of the Japanese government’s handling of the epidemic? Do you think it’s slow, clueless, and I humans?

IMO Japan has done what it can within its bounds and responsibilities. However in some areas it has been slow to react but a lot has to do with that same taking responsibility. Japan has some of the best researchers in the world hence it takes them time and lots of patience which under these circumstances we don't have, but one thing for sure is when they get it right you can bet its right on the target and the quality is bar none in comparison to everyone else. Please keep in mind that unlike individual loose cannons, Japan works collectively in groups and if your from Japan part of the slow response is that same collective group to come together. For now yes IMO I don't find them clueless or less human but rather cautious for the sake of everyone's health not just 1.

8...

No, it was 8 yesterday (check the date of that article you linked)

Today its only 6 (aside from the 70 on the boat).

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN2J6FVGN2JUTIL01C.html

Well at least the media isn't taking it lightly. You'd think they were taking about zombie infections the way they are reporting.

And about 90 minutes after you posted that, NHK News7 reported ... well, nothing of the kind.

hahahahahahaha

That was funny. Seriously.

I was watching the tv news. Perhaps I misheard it. I thought hey we’re going to the bases. Maybe their quarantine will be back in the states.

Quarantine these people on this was a total failure, lots of countries are removing their citizens, if it meant a few initial infection, these people should of been removed earlier, now Japan face with 100 of Japanese getting infected

I wonder why their nations did not evacuate their citizens from there soon before it gets worse. The ship has been a little Wuhan. It seems to me all nations thought the ship is the best quarantine facility in the first place. Thing has changed as a result.

1glennToday  09:05 pm JST

we are closer to a pandemic because the passengers on the Holland America liner Westerdam were released in Cambodia without quarantine. After more than a hundred passengers boarded airplanes for destinations around the world, it was found that one passenger still in country tested positive for the new virus. If any of those who flew out of Cambodia were contagious, things could get very bad. Maybe we will be lucky, and only the one passenger was infected.

I agree.

1200 passengers on the Holland America liner Westerdam were released so soon in Cambodia.

Is it good?

You think Cambodia does better job than Japan?

No!!

Because they tested only 20 passengers who claim they have fever!

Then, later one of released passengers was found positive. Who knows? 1179=1200-20-1 might be positive as well. Now they are everywhere in Cambodia or other nations infecting people.

I know people complain Japan handling Diamond Princess. But it shows how secure Japan is. :)

For those of you who said the people should have been taken off the boat, where do you think they should have been taken? Remember there are more than 3500 people on board. There is no facility or base that could house and support that many people.

@MarkX

If Japan with 120MM inhabitants cannot manage a 4M people quarantine, it is a failed state. Period!

Not sure if anyone has pointed it out, but over roughly a 2 week period, they've only been able to test a bit more than 1/3 of the ship

The ministry has so far tested a total of 1,219 people aboard the ship, which currently houses about 3,400 passengers and crew

So, I presume the quaranteen period is going to be extended for those not tested. And also throws into question whether the passengers were infected before and the results are just trickling out slowly.

Also surely means there's gonna be a heck of a lot of people carrying the virus on land that has not been tested, if the testing is relatively slow persay. There will be a heavy reliance on self quaranteen.

Japan does not have enough quarantine facilities for sudden 3,700 people here and not enough virus examiners and not enough reagents to incubate, etc. But Japan did it well. There is no other way, Japan had to let them keep to stay in the ship. If the virus were SARS, ship would be the best quarantine facility because of not strong infection. Corona virus is incredibly powerful infection.

I think after the first 20 tests - the nationals of all other countries should have picked up their citizens and quarantined them immediately. Just like the US picked up the Americans from Wuhan. This way they do not spread more within the boat. They get quarantined ASAP.

According to Maritime Law the ship is British soil, what has GB done to help its citizens, including those of the Commonwealth?

Please stop bashing Japan. The targets of your vitriol should be the politicians who are handling this in Great Britain and Japan. You can bet is they had relatives on board they would be home safe and sound by now.

Unfortunately the average political anywhere (there are a few exceptions) is a self-infatuated, egotist whose only goal in life is to be reelected.

excuses after excuses.....

there is no government bashing here, most people are commenting on what they see in real time.

if Japanese government had little confidence taking care of these people, they should of contacted U.S, Canada,and other countries when the ship docked.

the slow, illogical method of test few each day, not following basic CDC protocols , having ship staff bring out ill patients which infected the staff,and they spread to others.

the main problem is that there are 1000s of Japanese citizens inside the ship now, are they going to test few at a time or are they planning move them all at once, similar to what they did to people evacuated from Wuhan.

let's not talk about there are not enough beds or facilities, there are many Japanese facilities from military to police which has many facilities in Japan to take all their citizens.

People are infected and will get infected, don't worry about ...... Olympics. this is an emergency situation here.

I wonder why their nations did not evacuate their citizens from there soon before it gets worse.

You wonder why they didn't use a crystal ball to read the future ? Yeah, that way, they could have known the passengers had to be evacuated before that Chinese guy joined the cruise.

if you are not one of the people in the ship, don't assume anything, it was not luxury , it was a prison with virus.

Here one of the evacuees said: Sarah Arana, I will skip the Steven King novel part.

This has been a failed experiment, as far as I’m concerned," she said. “I feel like a sitting duck on this ship. I think that every single minute, I’m at greater risk of getting it. I personally feel the need to just remove myself from this ship.”

Japanese government failed, other nations thought Japanese government would do an adequate job.

Now, other nations are taking their citizens, let see how they handle their own citizens............................

@rgciviluan13

When the decision first came out, I wrote it was bad idea to quarantine the infected with the uninflected. The responses have been a) that’s how quarantines work, the whole ship is quarantined b) what would you do with all these people?

This only shows the inability of the government to deal with a group of 3700 people with the infected among them and the unwillingness to test them and deal with them as individuals. Effort unfortunately does not equate to competence.

With estimated millions of tourists visiting this summer, there has to be concrete plans to deal with the possibility of the epidemic still going around.

Japan does not have enough quarantine facilities for sudden 3,700 people here and not enough virus examiners and not enough reagents to incubate, etc. But Japan did it well. 

China builds a 1000 bed hospital to quarantine the infected in 6-10 days. Japan can if it has to even if it’s on a smaller scale. And these are Japanese citizens on the ship.

Luis David YanezFeb. 16  05:30 pm JST

I really was appalled when I discovered that people where been kept in the boat. I knew it was only going to get more people to get the virus, not to mention that it is a violation of human rights.

This is not the way you do quarantine. I could understand it if the virus was so deadly that you are willing to sacrifice all the people on the boat for the "greater good".

What do you think a quarantine is, regardless of a ship or on land, if not a "sacrifice for the greater good"?

KniknaknokkaerToday  04:55 pm JST

WellingtonToday  01:03 am JST

Princess Cruises is an American company.

Not so easy to tell. The M/V Diamond Princess is registered under the UK flag. But both Princess Cruises and it's parent Carnival are headquarted in Califormia. Although Carnival Corp is regisiterd in Bermuda. Certainly before Carnival bought Princess Cruises it was registered in the UK.

what I don't get is ... this ship got infected in Hong Kong I think (??) but ... we are not seeing a big out break in HK. hhmmm?

they are joint venture between US and UK. But ship is based in Japan.

hahaha, some of you are trying to tell me Japan did best they could. Can you make sure to say Japanese government, and not , Japan. Japanese government is part of Japan, don't use Japan period.

Is this instance, J. Government failed miserably,not Japan, Not Japanese people. Country of Japan and its people suffered because its government did not do their job both with the ship and infections internally.