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Corona virus: “It’s nice on the pool deck” – German couple is stuck

Sthis queasy feeling all the time. Did I get the new corona virus? “Fear is too much now. But nobody can rule out the possibility that there may have been infections in the quarantine period, ”Martin Lutterjohann describes in a calm voice. The retired psychotherapist from Munich and his Japanese wife Sakae have been sitting in their windowless cabin on board the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship in Yokohama near Tokyo, his wife’s home, for days. If all goes well, the two will be able to disembark on Wednesday. “We are fine, we are both healthy, tested negative.”

The ship has been in quarantine for two weeks. The occasion was the case of an 80-year-old from Hong Kong who had tested positive for the virus. The man had boarded Yokohama on January 20 and disembarked the cruise ship in Hong Kong five days later. So far, 454 of the more than 3000 passengers and crew members have been tested positive, 20 of them are said to have severe symptoms. Until Monday, however, the test results were only available for 1,723 people on board. All infected are looked after in clinics.

While the Americans brought several hundred of their countrymen home on Monday, Lutterjohann initially trusts that the quarantine will ultimately work on the ship. “But of course there is a bit of that feeling of insecurity. Was it safe here or not? ”Says Lutterjohann of the German press agency in Tokyo on Skype. Still, he feels in a “comfortable, safe place”. The same applies to others with whom they are in contact by phone or via WhatsApp, including some of the eight Germans on board.

Every passenger has an iPhone with internet access

“We take things lightly, relaxed. We don’t put any unnecessary stress on us, ”says Lutterjohann and smiles. “Of course, always in the light of the fact that we have now not fallen into a trap and are being tested positively. Then of course something tilts. I don’t know what it’s like then, ”said the German. A German couple, with whom he and his wife came into contact via WhatsApp and who showed no symptoms, was tested positive and has been in a local hospital since Sunday.

Lutterjohann is a trained psychotherapist and psychologist, which helps him to deal with the isolation on board the ship. He offered his professional help – but he has to stay in his cabin. Since it has no windows, he and his wife have been allowed to go out into the fresh air twice a day for one hour each for a few days. “The moment we go to the cabin door, we immediately put on the mask when we receive food, when we go out anyway,” he says. Disinfectants are on every landing. “Nothing should really happen there.”

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For a few days now, the food has also been “fully packed” and thus served at the cabin door more safely than before. Last week everyone got an iPhone with internet access, Lutterjohann said. Once they brought them bed linen that they changed themselves. They also received cleaning supplies on Saturday. The only thing they could not suck was the “perhaps biggest drawback”.

Otherwise it is “naturally boring” in the cabin. He could watch movies, but he leaves his laptop with his wife so that she can watch Japanese news. Lutterjohann is confident that now that they have been tested negatively and that they have had the necessary discussion with a medical team, they “actually have a good chance that we will be among the first to be out on the 19th”. Then they would do what they had planned from the start: add another week to Tokyo.

No new cases on the “Westerdam” so far

Meanwhile, Germans are still on board the “Westerdam” in Cambodia. Several Asian countries had banned the cruise ship from mooring due to concerns about the possible introduction of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – with no known infections on board. Only Cambodia finally agreed to dock. Surprisingly, an American was tested positive on the way home in Malaysia at the weekend. This changed the situation for the “Westerdam” again and upset the plans of the returnees.

According to the shipping company, 57 Germans were among the travelers. According to information from the German Press Agency, some are still on board the luxury liner in the port of Sihanoukville, while others have already started their journey home. According to the shipping company, the returned passengers will be contacted by their local health authorities. Some travelers are still in a hotel in the capital Phnom Penh and are being tested there, as the US passenger Christina Kerby wrote on Twitter.

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According to the latest information, a total of almost 1,000 people were still on board the “Westerdam”, including around a quarter of vacationers. The travelers are to be tested for the virus – there was no new case with the results known to date, as the passenger Markus König from Mainz described to the German Press Agency on Monday. An announcement from the captain informed her. The samples would be flown to Phnom Penh by helicopter and they would have to wait for the result. “This is how long we have been here.” König expects that the flight home could be delayed by a few days.

“The supply here is excellent”

The 53-year-old, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, and his partner got caught on a honeymoon. There was always new information on the way, the couple said that they had booked their flight for the fifth time. This is all a “very surreal situation,” says König. “But the supply here is excellent.” The guests could move around freely. “It’s nice on the pool deck.”

His impression is that the people on board were not worried about their health. The mood is slightly sarcastic, but also optimistic. The passengers have moved closer together, including the crew. “There is a lot of exchange.” He now hopes that the trip home will not be delayed too long and that he will not have to be quarantined in Germany.

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