Diamond Princess Cruises: Why Many Countries Are Anxious to Evacuate Overseas Chinese from Ships

 

 Diamond Princess Cruises: Why Many Countries Are Anxious    to Evacuate Overseas Chinese from Ships

The cruise ship "Diamond Princess" has been docked at the port of Yokohama, Japan for more than a week, and there have been news of passengers or crew members who have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus on the ship for days. The Japanese government continues to require everyone to remain on board for quarantine and quarantine, but many countries have been anxious to announce the dispatch of chartered flights to take the people on board and leave.

As of Monday (February 17), 454 passengers and crew on board have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, the largest epidemic group outside China.

The governments of Israel, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, and Australia have announced that they will negotiate with the Japanese government to arrange charter flights to pick up nationals who have not been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. Most foreign passengers who have previously been diagnosed with the new coronavirus will continue to stay in Japanese hospitals for treatment.

The crew and passengers on the "Princess Diamond" have been under quarantine observation on the ship since February 3, originally until Wednesday (February 19), but the detained passengers reflected the gradual deterioration of the environment on the ship, and experts also questioned With the increasing number of confirmed diagnoses, it is not humane to trap some passengers who were not originally sick on board.

What is the latest development of evacuation?

Some U.S. citizens on the "Diamond Princess" had previously boarded the U.S. government charter plane and left Japan, but the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying that health officials found 14 people on the charter confirmed the new coronavirus and will board them to The cabin is isolated in a "closed area".

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the United States for sending charter flights to take American citizens away, describing the US approach as "relieving pressure on the Japanese health department."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also announced that it will send charter flights to Japan on Wednesday to pick up Australians on cruises to return home.

The Hong Kong government also announced on Monday that it sent government personnel to Japan to assist Hong Kong people on board to return to Hong Kong on chartered flights.

Passengers on the "Princess Diamond" have been in quarantine for more than 10 days, but many governments have stated that after returning home, these nationals must undergo 14 days of quarantine observation at designated facilities to ensure that they are not infected.

Why are many countries eager to withdraw overseas Chinese?

Most of the passengers on the "Princess Diamond" are required to stay in their own rooms. Every day, staff will serve them and check their health.

However, most of the passengers on board were elderly people over 60 years old, and some cabins had no windows. The process of isolation caused some people to have other medical problems, such as stroke.

The Japanese government earlier agreed to arrange for elderly passengers, or those living in cabins without windows, to disembark early and complete the quarantine period at facilities on shore.

But its practice of requiring all passengers to stay on board has been criticized. David Fisman, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto in Canada, described it in an interview with the US news website Vox earlier. This approach is equivalent to "trapping some people on a carrier with the virus", but may make more people infected.