Pacific Princess cruise ship moored at Yokohama port for quarantine
An Australian infectious disease specialist has flown to Japan to assist authoris in handling the new HMS Princess Diamond in Yokohama, with a new outbreak of pneumonia, and Scott Morrison`s government is considering whether to emulate the United States by sending a special plane to Japan to withdraw more than 200 Australian tourists and crew members on board.
Japan`s Ministry of Health and Labour announced this morning that a new test of 289 people was completed yesterday and 67 new cases were added, resulting in a total of 355 people aboard the ship confirming new coronavirus, or nearly 10% of all passengers and crew.
Originally carrying 3711 passengers and crew, the cruise ship has become the largest single-diagnosed patient gathering area outside China, where the new coronavirus originated. The United States this morning sent a special plane to Japan to assist in the evacuation of about 400 American citizens.
Australian infectious disease experts will join an international panel of experts to gather information on passengers aboard the cruise, including more than 200 Australian passengers and crew.
At least 16 australians trapped in quarantine on a cruise ship have been diagnosed with a new coronavirus, the latest of which was a resident of western australia, embasy confirmed last week. This figure has surpassed the number of new cases of coronary pneumonia diagnosed in mainland, australia.
It`s not clear whether there were 67 new confirmed cases on this morning`s announced Diamond Princess cruise ship, with or without Australians.
The 223 Australian passengers aboard the Diamond Princess were due to end their 14-day quarantine next Wednesday, but they know little about the developments. Many have had to cancel commercial flights, and it`s unclear whether they will have to be self-segregated after returning to Australia.
Morrison government is under increasing pressure to send a special plane to pick up australians stranded on the cruise as more people are diagnosed with the new corona virus.
The federal government is considering options to help australians on board the ship, e-mailed by e-mail from e-mail to mr. diamond in japan.
Emassy told australia`s citizen that it was a "very stressful situation" for them and that australian medical staff were working closely with authorities in japan to support them.
Federal government last Thursday extended China`s mainland travel ban for a further seven days to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said protecting citizen against the virus was the most important, but it was also a "savage blow" to tourism.
John Hart, executive chairman of the Australian Tourism Chamber, wrote:" Even a partial lifting of the ban in China`s provinces will greatly benefit from tourism and trade, which is much less risky for Australians. "
But australian sailors and the warf workers union (The Maritime Union of Australia) have expressed concern that their union members are at risk due to the arrival of container ships from mainland, china, in some cases in violation of the travel ban.
Meanwhile, the new state health office said today (Sunday) that health experts will assess passengers arriving in Sydney from certain cruise ships just in case.
Health autharies will conduct a risk assessment before each cruise ship entering Sydney Harbour is moored, and then it will be up to the health autharies to decide whether to allow passengers to disembark.
In addition, those who have withdrawn australia from wuhan have been quarantined on christmas island and darwin for 14 days. The first group will end its quarantine tomorrow (monday).
The first Australian to be sent to quarantine on Christmas Island from Wuhan will end Monday
China`s epidemic is severe Europe`s first death case
Another 68,548 cases were diagnosed as of yesterday,9,425 were cured and 8,228 were suspected, according to figures released today by chinese authorities. Although the number of confirmed cases outside hubei province has dropped for 12 days, there were 2009 new cases diagnosed yesterday, indicating that the epidemic is still very serious.
In france, a chinese tourist died of a new case of coronary pneumonia, becoming the first in europe due to a new case of coronavirus, and the third case of a new case of pneumonia in china above since the philippines and japan.
At a journallist meeting on the 15th, japan`s minister of labour, kaito shengxin, said the situation "has changed ", the new crown pneumonia has actually begun to spread in japan.
According to the report, mr. kato told the jornalist meeting that as many as five places in japan have been diagnosed with no direct relationship with china and no way of infection. "More in-depth investigations are needed in the future and the situation has changed. Mr. Kato also said a meeting of experts will be held on the 16th to explore the current epidemic of new pneumonia in Japan.
