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.
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