Of the 3,711 people originally on board this cruise ship, 218 were infected with the Covid-19. Among them, many elderly people, some of whom were evacuated before the official end of quarantine, scheduled for February 19.
The number of contaminations continues to increase. A total of 218 passengers of Diamond princess, a liner in quarantine off the coast of Japan since February 3, are infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus out of the 3,711 people who were initially on board. Friday, February 14, the Japanese authorities began to evacuate some of them, elderly people with fragile health and not contaminated by the virus. According to an official, only eleven people have disembarked. For the others, the official end of quarantine is set for February 19. Is this closed session effective? Can it be extended? What does life on board look like? Franceinfo answers eight questions about this exceptional situation.
Why is this boat in quarantine?
The Diamond princess has been in quarantine since February 3 because one of its passengers, aged 80, tested positive after landing in Hong Kong in late January. This luxury cruise ship, built in 2002 and which has 750 cabins and five swimming pools, had already been forced into solitary confinement in Naha, on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. However, this containment measure was again implemented off Yokohama Bay after the discovery of the coronavirus in the octogenarian.
Are there French on board?
Four French are indeed on the Diamond princess. “According to the information we have at this stage, three French are on board among the passengers, a fourth French is present among the crew members”, the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed on Monday, February 10. One of them tested positive for Covid-19 coronavirus. “We learned this evening that a French passenger had been tested positive and taken care of by Japanese doctors”, number 2 of the Ministry of Health, Jérôme Salomon, said Thursday, February 13, at a press conference. “We don’t have more details yet.”
According to information from RTL, this is an 80 year old man. “My husband was taken to a hospital whose address I do not know, said his wife on the radio. The good thing is that he has no symptoms. The doctors said they were going to do more tests to confirm the diagnosis, we trust them. “
It’s sad, because despite all the precautions that we took for 11 days confined in our cabin, the virus arrived at us. That’s what I feared.at RTL’s microphone
And to appeal to the French authorities: “How are they going to take care of us? It takes a dramatic turn.”
How are sick people?
On his arrival in Yokohama, the Diamond princess had 3,711 passengers and crew members. However, this figure has dropped since the infected people were evacuated and hospitalized, as were some people who needed medical treatment for other reasons. Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday announced 44 new positive cases, bringing the total number of people infected to 218. Ten people hospitalized from the boat are currently in serious condition, in intensive care or under respiratory assistance, the minister said on Friday.
What does life on board look like?
This forced camera is more and more agonizing for passengers, even if the crew does everything to try to distract them, as evidenced by several people on social networks. As reported The Obs, a mother thanks the “generous donors” who had Uno’s game delivered, sachets of pearls and son of scoubidou at the door of the cabin that she, her husband and their two children occupy 24 hours a day.
Day 8 Quarantine update: @kaitlynsohh received more goodies! The youth club received some generous donations sent to them and someone must have heard that kaitlyn loves Kpop! She got #uno #bts (her favorite is #twice #ateez). And we have jigsaw puzzles!… https://t.co/FGw6bXSRLd pic.twitter.com/wln6JXK1Jj
– Aun Na Tan (@qtiepie) February 12, 2020
Passengers are forbidden to leave their cabin and have their meal delivered. Their only contact with the outside world is the internet. “Since we are in quarantine, we cannot leave our cabins, it is complicated to discuss with the other passengers”, Kent Brasure, an American on board, told franceinfo. “We created a WhatsApp group to communicate”, He says.
“We do a little sport in our cabin, we move, we do exercises, we try to exercise physically. We read, we share a lot, especially via Messenger with our family in New Caledonia who is very present, with our children. (…) You can’t throw yourself over the balcony. You have to face it., also testifies for Franceinfo a French woman on board.
Even if “it’s very hard to be in quarantine”, it ensures that the captain “manages his boat like a real father”. For Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14, Cupid-style avocados and red wine were served at dinner. Wearing a red evening dress and a matching rose-shaped hair tie, the on-board party manager, Natalie, posted a video on Twitter to cheer up the troops.
A message from Cruise Director Natalie onboard #DiamondPrincess. #hangintherediamondprincess pic.twitter.com/RAjIeEdzsw
– Princess Cruises (@PrincessCruises) February 13, 2020
The epidemic also forces passengers to have to leave suddenly. In the middle of a honeymoon, Kent Frasure thus helplessly attended the evacuation of his partner Rebecca, who has since been placed in isolation in a Japanese hospital after having contracted the virus.
Is quarantine effective?
According to the Japanese authorities, this quarantine aims as much to protect and reassure the population of the country as to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus on board. However, doubts have started to arise about the effectiveness of this device, the number of new cases of infection on board constantly increasing. Especially since the Japanese government has explained that it does not have enough diagnostic tests available to detect everyone on board immediately. In ten days, only 20% of people on board underwent these tests – just over 700 people. Authorities hope to increase to 1,000 people a day by February 18, on the eve of the planned end of quarantine.
Japanese authorities use an infectious diagnostic technique called “PCR” (for polymerase chain reaction). This very common method of molecular biology makes it possible to obtain, by in vitro amplification, large quantities of a DNA fragment from a small sample of nasal or oral fluid. Although considered to be fast and effective, this method nevertheless requires four to six hours to deliver its results. In addition, experts have not yet determined precisely when in its life cycle the Covid-19 becomes detectable. Screening can thus be difficult on people who do not yet have symptoms, while already being contagious.
As indicates LCI, a question worries passengers: can the virus spread through the air conditioning air ducts? “We are in confined spaces with air conditioning. We have burning sinuses, our throats are dry”, Points out a Frenchwoman on board.
Why evacuate the elderly?
Most cruise passengers are over the age of 60 – and up to over 90 for some – and the quarantine conditions, with confinement in cabins, risk degrading the health of the most vulnerable among them , regardless of the coronavirus epidemic. The Japanese authorities have thus indicated that these high-risk people whose tests are negative may leave the boat before the end of the quarantine period scheduled for February 19.
“There are very old people who have pre-existing health factors and some passengers occupy cabins without windows”, said the Japanese Minister of Health at a press conference. These passengers may be accommodated in buildings specially made available to them in Japan.
The first of them left the Diamond Pricess by immediately getting into buses with the curtains closed. The drivers were equipped with the feet to the head of a protective suit with mask and glasses, found an AFP journalist Friday. A government official said 11 people were out, without specifying whether others would leave the boat on Friday or giving further details.
Will the quarantine be extended?
The duration of the quarantine may indeed be extended beyond February 19, given the growing number of infections detected on board. But according to the World Health Organization, the quarantine will only be extended for people who have had close contact with the last positive cases identified on that date. These people must remain isolated for fourteen additional days, corresponding approximately to the incubation period of the coronavirus, from the day of their last contact with a confirmed positive case.
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