About 500 passengers disembarked on Wednesday, February 19, from the liner Diamond Princess, quarantined in Japan due to contamination with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which has already killed more than 2,000 people in China. On the French side, ” a few dozen “ French nationals will be repatriated over the weekend from China, the area most affected by the epidemic, and will be quarantined in a location yet to be determined, health director Jerome Salomon announced on Wednesday.
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New repatriation for “a few dozen” French
This fourth repatriation flight is expected on Friday and the accommodation of returnees, “In a holiday village, is being organized”said number 2 of the Ministry of Health at a press conference. “As for the first three flights, these are only people with no symptoms, there will be a medical assistance team on board”, he added. These returnees will be confined for fourteen days and tested twice to make sure they are not infected.
The objective of the health authorities is to “Replicate a little what had worked very well in Carry-le-Rouet, with very pleasant accommodation conditions … but it will not be in Carry-le-Rouet”, because of the smaller number of people, said Professor Salomon. Details of the location and time of arrival for this flight will be released on Thursday.
“The idea is to repatriate people who are still in the red zone”, that is, in the epicenter of the epidemic, he said. The cradle of the epidemic is Hubei Province and its capital, Wuhan. No new case of coronavirus infection was discovered on French territory, the assessment remaining unchanged with 12 confirmed cases (four hospitalizations without signs of severity, seven cured and one death).
Similarly, the balance sheet remains unchanged for the four French on board the liner Diamond princess quarantined in Japan: three passengers tested positive and are hospitalized, but “Show almost no symptoms”, reported Jérôme Salomon. The fourth Frenchman is a member of the crew who did not contract the disease and “Continues its work” on board.
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Passengers disembark from ocean liner in Japan
Tokyo announced in the evening 79 new carriers of the virus on board the Diamond princess, bringing the number of cases listed to 621, making this cruise ship docked in the port of Yokohama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, the largest focus of the virus outside of China.
Passengers with no symptoms, whose tests were negative and who had no contact with people carrying the virus disembarked throughout the day, after fourteen days of solitary confinement. ” I am relieved (…). I want to rest “, a 77-year-old Japanese man told reporters.
Those authorized to go out received an official certificate stating that they were not presenting “No risk of infection with the new coronavirus” no symptoms at the time of the inspection. Some in Japan were concerned, however, that passengers on the ship were scattered in the wild or departing for their respective countries.
This concern over the virus also affects Russia, where no Chinese national will be able to enter from Thursday, the culmination of sanitary measures taken against the new coronavirus, despite the economic cost for tourism and border regions. Announced Tuesday evening by a laconic decree, this decision results in further tightening the already very strict regime intended to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Officially, Russia has had no more Covid-19 patients on its territory since the hospital’s discharge last week from the only two patients, Chinese nationals. Moscow had already closed its 4,250 km border with China, cut passenger rail links and restricted the number of flights to Chinese cities.
In Sihanoukville, southern Cambodia, dozens of tourists from another docked cruise ship disembarked on Wednesday. They have so far been stranded after it was discovered that a passenger previously disembarked was carrying the coronavirus. They have all tested negative for the virus.
More than 1,200 passengers were allowed to disembark last week, some of whom were greeted by Hun Sen himself, the Cambodian Prime Minister, with lots of flowers and hugs.
The dozens of new cases seen on board each day raised questions about the effectiveness of quarantine during which passengers were allowed to walk in small groups on the deck with masks, while flight attendants went from cabin in cabin to distribute meals. Several countries have decided to send planes to repatriate their nationals without further delay. As for the crew, they will start to quarantine once the last passenger has left.
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More than 2,000 dead in China, Iran announces two dead
In China, the source of the virus, the death toll exceeds 2,000, with more than 74,000 people infected. The semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong has seen a second death and Iran has announced two deaths. Despite the magnitude of these figures, the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed Wednesday in Cairo “Huge progress” carried out in the management of the epidemic.
“We have made huge progress in a short time”, Director of Emergency Measures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Richard Brennan, said at a press conference with the WHO regional office in Egypt. “We can diagnose the virus everywhere now” and “Effective health systems” have been put in place, welcomed his side the WHO regional director Ahmed Al-Mandhari. However, it is “Still too early to say that the virus has been contained”, nuanced Doctor Brennan.
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