Ten people on a cruise ship were confirmed to have tested positive for a new type of coronavirus, the health ministry said Wednesday.
The 10 people are among 3,711 aboard the Diamond Princess ship, and have developed such symptoms as a fever and coughing. Based on the Infectious Diseases Law, they were transported to medical institutions in Kanagawa Prefecture and hospitalized. More than 200 other people are currently being tested for the virus, and the number of people infected could increase further.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry intends to have the remaining passengers and crew members remain on the ship for 14 days in principle, considering the incubation period for the virus.
According to the ministry, 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew members from 56 countries and regions including Japan were on board as of Monday night when the ship returned to Yokohama Port.
After a man who disembarked from the ship in Hong Kong was found to have been infected with the virus, the ministry conducted on-board quarantine inspections for all the passengers and crew members in waters off Yokohama Port by Wednesday morning. As a result, 120 people were found to have symptoms such as fever.
In total, the ministry collected samples from 273 people, including 153 people who had close contact with the man who disembarked in Hong Kong or those with the symptoms.
By Wednesday morning, results were obtained for 31 of them, and the 10 people -- three Japanese and seven foreign nationals -- were found to have been infected. The remaining 21 tested negative.
The infected 10 people are aged from their 50s to their 80s. Among them, the Japanese nationals consist of two women and one man.
On Jan. 22, two of the 10 people temporarily disembarked the ship in Kagoshima Prefecture, where they participated in a sightseeing tour together with the man who disembarked in Hong Kong.
The ministry is continuing to conduct tests on the remaining 242 people, and it is expected to take several days for the results to be known, according to the ministry.
For the next 14 days, it will ask the rest of the passengers and crew members to remain in their rooms on the ship and continue to check their health condition through such means as regularly taking their temperature.
The newly confirmed cases brought to 33 the number of people confirmed to have been infected with the virus in Japan.
The Chinese National Health Commission said Wednesday morning that the death toll from the virus rose to 490 in mainland China as the number of those infected increased to 24,324.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
