Coronavirus fears will strand California couple aboard cruise ship in Japan for weeks
A couple from Santa Ynez Valley, California, is among those trapped on a Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, quarantined due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Elaina and her husband, Gonzo, were supposed to return on Feb. 5, but will be on the ship until Feb. 19 due to the quarantine, KEYT reported. They’ve been told to stay in their room without a window.
(Elaina later told McClatchy News that she spoke on the condition her last name not be used.)
The couple isn’t sick and Elaina said on Facebook that they’re being given “coffee and juice, but little water,” according to KEYT.
More than 2,000 ship passengers are quarantined and Japanese health officials are continuing to screen the 273 passengers believed to have been exposed to the virus, The New York Times reported. Twenty of the 102 people tested, including Americans, are positive for coronavirus.
The ship docked in Yokohama on Monday after a Southeast Asia trip, but those on board are quarantined after an 80-year-old man from Hong Kong tested positive for coronavirus, according to The New York Times.
Another ship, the World Dream, with approximately 3,600 passengers and crew on board, is being held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, The New York Times reported. Eight people who previously took the cruise have tested positive.
Coronavirus has infected 27,636 people worldwide and killed 564 in China, USA Today reported.
Chinese media said that two infants tested positive for coronavirus and that one of them could have been infected in the womb, according to USA Today.
The Trump administration has barred foreign nationals who have traveled to China from coming to the U.S., declaring a “public health emergency,” USA Today reported. It has also mandated a two-week quarantine for people coming from China’s Hubei province.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 8:29 AM with the headline "Coronavirus fears will strand California couple aboard cruise ship in Japan for weeks."