The Associated Press
TOKYO – Japan’s health ministry said Wednesday that 39 new cases of a virus have been confirmed on a cruise ship quarantined at a Japanese port.
The update brings the total found on the Diamond Princess, which carries 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew members, to 174 cases, including 25 Americans.
One of the passengers is Susan Anabel of Marysville, according to The Seattle Times, who has been confined to her room aboard the ship until a two-week quarantine at Daikoku Pier at the port of Yokohama is concluded.
The new cases bring Japan’s total to 203 people infected by the new virus, Covid-19.
The night of the ship’s arrival, Japanese health officials began medical checks on all of the ship’s 3,700 passengers and crew after one previous passenger tested positive for the virus.
The U.S.-operated Diamond Princess had completed a 14-day tour during which it stopped at Hong Kong and several other Asian ports before returning to Japan.
Japanese government and tour company officials have said they were notified by Hong Kong that an 80-year-old male passenger who got off the boat there later tested positive for the virus.
Also confined to a cruise ship are Lydia and John Miller of Orcas Island, The Seattle Times said.
Their ship, the Holland America Westerdam, has been refused entry to five ports because of concerns about the coronavirus — even though no onboard cases have been confirmed.
Thailand had said Tuesday that it would not allow the MS Westerdam to dock at a Thai port after it had already been turned away by the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan.
