Tokyo – The two-week quarantine on the “Diamond Princess” ends on Wednesday. Thousands of passengers and crew will then disembark in the port of Yokohama near Tokyo, a city with over a million inhabitants. However, experts doubt that the risk of spreading the virus is averted.
Experts even assume that the quarantine of the ship could have been a kind of brood chamber for the causative agent of the lung disease! Because: Contrary to expectations, the number of proven infections with the new corona virus (Covid-19) among passengers on the “Diamond Princess” rose again.
Most infections outside of China
▶ isUntil Tuesday (local time), 542 Corona cases were detected in the 3711 passengers on the cruise ship. This makes the “Diamond Princess” the place with the most infections outside of China.
Dr. Paul Hunter, medical professor at the University of East Anglia in England: “We have to assume that everyone who leaves the ship is potentially infected and therefore has to go through another two-week quarantine period. Not doing that would be ruthless. ” Disease expert Dr. Nathalie MacDermott of London’s King’s College said: “Obviously the quarantine didn’t work and this ship has now become a source of infection.” How the virus could spread is unknown. But how could that happen?
Quarantine checkers infected
The Japanese government had repeatedly defended the quarantine. However, experts suspect that the measures ordered were handled too laxly. For example, three employees of the Japanese health authorities were infected – they were actually responsible for checking compliance with the quarantine measures. “I suspect the people weren’t as isolated as we thought,” said Dr. Hunter.
Hunter believes the rules may not have been followed. “It is difficult to quarantine a ship. I am firmly convinced that there were passengers who did not want anyone to dictate what they were allowed to do and what they were not allowed to do. ”It is therefore quite possible that even after the 14-day quarantine has ended, further corona cases will occur among passengers!
According to Japan’s Minister of Health, Katsunobu Kato, samples were taken from all passengers remaining on board. Those who test negative should leave the ship starting Wednesday. Due to the large number of people on board, it will probably take until Friday to complete this process.
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