On 3 February, the British superyacht named Diamond Princess was stranded after discovering a COVID-19 infected passenger outside the port of Japan. 3,771 passengers and crew were "stuck" on the superyacht.
On February 16, the Japanese Ministry of Health announced the continued detection of 70 new infections on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, bringing the total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 355 people. The number of infections has continuously increased in recent days despite measures to isolate passengers and crew on the ship.
The US diplomatic representative said that the situation on the cruise ship puts all passengers and crew at high risk of exposure. US authorities said on February 16 that they would take the US citizen off the ship and fly home, where they would face another 14-day quarantine.
40 of the US citizens on board were infected, said Anthony Fauci, a senior official with the National Institutes of Health. They will be taken to a hospital in Japan for treatment."
The US mobilized two aircraft to welcome 400 citizens back home today, February 17. The US plane took off from Haneda airport (Tokyo, Japan) to bring citizens back home.
Japan has announced that it will cooperate with all countries and territories that want to evacuate people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Canada, Italy, South Korea and Hong Kong passengers are also expected to leave their ships soon in similar evacuation efforts.
Of the 355 infections, there were up to 73 cases with no symptoms but still tested positive for COVID-19. Japanese authorities have only tested 1,219/3,701 people on the ship.
The US plane will land at Travis Military Airport in California. Passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were then taken to Lackland Military base in Texas. All were quarantined for 14 days.
