Coronavirus cruise liner is hit by another 99 cases, bringing total to 454, as ship’s owners admit passengers may have to stay on board after quarantine because they don’t know what happens next
The dozens of new cases were confirmed today after latest batch of 504 tests
Of the 99 new patients, 70 had not shown any symptoms of the killer virus
Hundreds more passengers are still in the dark over how they will leave ship
By TIM STICKINGS
DAILYMAIL.COM
17 February 2020
Another 99 cases of coronavirus have today been confirmed on board the Diamond Princess, with hundreds of passengers still in the dark over when they will leave.
The dozens of new cases bring the total on board the ship to 454 just two days before the quarantine is due to end.
The latest cases were revealed today after another batch of 504 tests, with 70 of the 99 new patients not showing any symptoms of the virus.
The remaining hundreds of passengers were expecting to leave the ship when the two-week lockdown ends on Wednesday.
But the arrangements are still highly uncertain, meaning that passengers could have to stay on board beyond the end of the quarantine.
Princess Cruises say they are being ‘led by Japanese authorities’ and are waiting for foreign governments and embassies to say how they will retrieve their citizens.
The US has already evacuated more than 300 of its citizens with Australia, Canada and others also lining up rescue flights, but the UK is still considering its options despite growing frustration from British passengers.
Passengers have been confined to their cabins in a two-week lockdown in Yokohama which is scheduled to end on Wednesday, February 19.
The ship was quarantined by Japanese authorities with 3,711 people on board after a Hong Kong passenger who left the ship last month tested positive for the virus.
A total of 1,723 of those people have now been tested, of whom 454 have been found to have the virus.
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