Planes carrying 340 US cruise passengers back from Japan land in California and Texas with 14 evacuees placed in ISOLATION chambers when officials realized they had tested positive for coronavirus
Two planes carrying 340 Americans have arrived back in the U.S. after they were evacuated from the coronavirus quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan
The first plane touched down at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California just before 11.30pm on Sunday local time, before the second plane arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas a few hours later
Fourteen U.S. evacuees had to be placed in special isolation chambers for the duration of the flights after it emerged they had been infected with coronvirus in the lead up to the evacuation
As the evacuees were being taken to the airport in Tokyo, results from tests carried out two to three days earlier came back and showed the 14 passengers had the infection
Despite the U.S. earlier saying no infected passenger would be allowed to leave, those who tested positive were still allowed to board the planes because they did not have symptoms
The U.S. said it arranged the evacuation because people on the Diamond Princess were at a high risk of exposure to the virus given about 400 passengers have tested positive during a two-week quarantine
After arriving in the U.S., all of the evacuees must go through another 14 days of quarantine at the American military facilities
The cruise ship, by far the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside China, has become the biggest test so far of other countries’ ability to contain an outbreak that has killed 1,770 people in China and five elsewhere
By CHRIS PLEASANCE
DAILYMAIL.COM
17 February 2020
Two planes evacuating 340 American cruise ship passengers from coronavirus quarantine on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have now landed back in the U.S. after 14 evacuees were placed in isolation chambers when officials realized they had tested positive for the deadly virus.
The first 747 plane touched down at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California just before 11.30pm on Sunday local time, before the second plane arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas a few hours later.
Fourteen U.S. evacuees had to be placed in special isolation chambers for the duration of the flights after it emerged they had been infected with coronvirus in the lead up to the evacuation.
The passengers had all been deemed ‘fit to fly’ and were not showing symptoms before disembarking from the cruise ship. As the evacuees were being taken to the airport in Tokyo, results from tests carried out two to three days earlier came back and showed the 14 passengers had the infection.
Despite the U.S. earlier saying no infected passenger would be allowed to leave, those who tested positive were still allowed to board the planes because they did not have symptoms. The State Department said they were being isolated separately from other passengers on the flights.
The U.S. said it arranged the evacuation because people on the Diamond Princess were at a high risk of exposure to the virus given more than 400 passengers have tested positive since the cruise liner was ordered to stay under quarantine on February 4.
After arriving in the U.S., all of the passengers must go through another 14 days of quarantine at the military facilities – meaning they will have been under quarantine for a total of nearly four weeks. The infected passengers will be taken to an isolated facility.
The Rest…HERE
