Coronavirus: Japan screens 3,700 on quarantined cruise ship

'The ship is like a ghost town, it’s really weird,' says British passenger

Some 3,700 passengers and crew aboard a quarantined cruise ship have begun undergoing health checks after a passenger from Hong Kong who was on the vessel last month tested positive for coronavirus.

The ship, called the Diamond Princess, is being held in quarantine at Yokohama Bay in Japan, where it arrived on Monday.

The infected passenger was an 80-year-old man who boarded the ship on 20 January and disembarked in Hong Kong five days later, said Carnival Japan Inc, which runs the cruise.

According to the Japan Times, a government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga said eight people on the vessel have symptoms, including fever.

Guests were instructed to stay in their cabins while waiting to be screened by health workers, who were seen walking through the ship in blue plastic gowns and face masks.

David Abel, a British man aboard the ship, told Press Association he and his wife Sally were due to fly home to the UK on Monday but had to cancel their flight after they were not allowed to leave.

He said: “The ship is like a ghost town, it’s really weird.

“I went for a walk around a part of the ship that is normally really busy – the musicians were still out playing, but where there normally would have been crowds of people, I saw maybe 20.

“Even the shopping areas where it would be packed are empty.”

Anyone with a fever or felt unwell will be tested once health authorities have screened everybody on board, said Mr Suga. Only then will authorities decide whether people can leave the ship.

On Saturday, Japan implemented an entry ban on foreign nationals who have been to Hubei, where the majority of those infected with coronavirus are concentrated.

There are 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Japan. Seventeen of them have been in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, which is the epicentre of the outbreak.

Over 20,600 people have been infected worldwide, with 427 deaths so far. In China alone, there are 20,438 confirmed cases on the mainland.

Japan is also preparing coordinate with the World Health Organisation to ensure the outbreak does not affect the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics taking place later this year, reported Kyodo News.