Thousands stranded on coronavirus infected cruise ships around the world
Horrifying pictures are emerging from a number of cruise ships stranded due to the coronavirus with Australians on board.
Horrifying pictures are emerging from a number of cruise ships stranded due to the coronavirus.
One image emerged of a person being stretchered off a cruise ship stranded in Hong Kong after multiple passengers tested postive for the coronavirus.
The development comes as cruise giant Royal Caribbean announced a ban on Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao passports holders.
The Diamond Princess, which is stranded in Japan with confirmed coronavirus cases at 61 — including at least five Australians — is the biggest known cluster outside China.
An image has emerged from the ship claiming, “medicine lacking”.
A Japanese flag with the words “medicine lacking†is draped on the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess. Some guests are elderly and on medication. #coronavirus #DiamondPrincess pic.twitter.com/iQncSy50tX
— Paula Hancocks (@PHancocksCNN) February 7, 2020
Meanwhile, the World Dream spent its fourth night docked off Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, where it is being held after eight former passengers tested positive for the coronavirus.
On Friday, photographs emerged on social media appearing to show Hong Kong paramedics, dressed head to toe in protective gear, loading a body completely sealed in plastic into an ambulance parked alongside the World Dream.
能旨æ„他們嗎？ pic.twitter.com/uVNdOmuKPr
— Light Time (@thepooh031) February 6, 2020
A quick look on different passengers stuck on #WorldDream cruise ship docked in #HongKong after #coronavirus was reported on board. They are not allowed to disembark at least until medical checkups are completed for every of the 3600 passengers and staff on board. pic.twitter.com/tBKVDXfBen
— Daniel Suen (@suen_daniel) February 5, 2020
There are believed to be up to 3,600 people on board, including an unknown number of Australians.
It is one of four cruise ships — carrying at least 11,000 crew and passengers collectively — grounded after the deadly virus was detected on board.
A second, the MS Westerdam, remains in limbo at sea after Japan became the fourth country to turn it away despite operator Holland America’s insistence none of the 2,200 crew and passengers are infected.
1/3: Westerdam Update: Guests on board Westerdam continue to be fully safe and secure. The ship is currently in a holding pattern off the coast of Japan, southeast of Okinawa, while we are working to finalize a new port of disembarkation.
— Holland America Line (@HALcruises) February 7, 2020
Two Australians, David and Judy Holst from Adelaide, are among those on board the ship.
Earlier, the Westerdam was rejected by authorities in Taiwan, the Philippines and the US territory of Guam, the NY Post reported.
“My wife and I were at dinner and I said, ‘The boat’s slowed down’,” Mr Holst told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“It obviously was and then a little while later an announcement came over the PA saying Manila has denied us entry.”
The decision from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came after the country recorded the first coronavirus death outside China.
Holland America is now scrambling to come up with alternative plans while it remains anchored off Okinawa.
The other two stranded cruise ships are the Diamond Princess in Japan and the Anthem of the Seas in New Jersey.
On Friday the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess rose to 61 — including at least five Australians — in what is the biggest known cluster outside China.
Japanese authorities are refusing to allow anyone to disembark and 3700 on board must remain in isolation for 14 days while those showing symptoms are tested.
The vessel was being held as a precautionary measure after eight former passengers who took a cruise from January 19 to 24 to Vietnam were found to have tested positive for the coronavirus, the ship’s operator Dream Cruises said in a statement.
The journey began with more than 4,000 passengers on board and disembarked at two stops — Nansha in southern China and Hong Kong — on January 24 after leaving Vietnam, Hong Kong Health Department authorities said on Wednesday.
Dream Cruises said it was attempting to contact scores of passengers who disembarked before the ship was grounded.
“(We need to) inform them of the situation and to remind them to seek professional medical assistance at their local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or health authorities should any symptoms arise or if they have any questions,” the company said in a statement.
The crew from that voyage, however, stayed on and the World Dream then picked up a different set of passengers before arriving in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, Hong Kong authorities said.
They said there were currently more than 1800 crew and 1800 passengers on board.
According to local health authorities, 30 crew members reported feeling sick, but all are in stable condition. Three who reported fevers are in isolation in a Hong Kong hospital for further testing.
Meanwhile dozens of people have been tested for the coronavirus on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which is currently docked in Bayonne, New Jersey, about 20km from New York City.
Personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the ship to test 27 passengers “who recently travelled from mainland China,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said on Friday.
“After being assessed by the CDC, 23 of those passengers were cleared and four individuals are being evaluated at an area hospital,” he said.
#Update: At least 6 of these 12 people who showed symptoms of the #Coronavirus onboard the cruise ship are of Chinese nationals, the CDC says we will monitor and investigate every person onboard the ship what has docked at the the #US state of New Jersey. #China #Wuhan #Hubei pic.twitter.com/JT5Ww6zbhZ
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) February 7, 2020
(1/3) You may have seen news about Anthem today and may be wondering about our guests and upcoming cruise. None of the four guests being tested by CDC showed any clinical signs and symptoms of coronavirus. One tested positive onboard for Influenza A.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) February 7, 2020
Royal Caribbean said today none of the four had tested positive for the coronavirus and health authorities had cleared the ship to sail. However departure had been delayed until tomorrow to “reassure our guests”.
“You may have seen news about Anthem today and may be wondering about our guests and upcoming cruise,” the company said in a tweet.
“None of the four guests being tested by CDC showed any clinical signs and symptoms of coronavirus. One tested positive onboard for influenza A.”
On Friday, a Diamond Princess employee expressed concern crew responsible for preparing food and cleaning rooms have not been properly tested for the disease.
A Sydney man who works on the ship told news.com.au that people on board were informed on February 3 that a past guest had been diagnosed with the virus but the ship wasn’t put on lockdown until the following day.
He said everyone has been totally confined to their rooms, apart from the crew who eat together in the mess hall.
“This is part of the problem, as far as I know the crew have not been properly tested. Just a temperature check three days ago,” he said.
“This is the same crew that prepare all the food and clean all the cabins so I’m finding it hard to trust the food we’re served.”
He said one of the most unnerving things about the situation is how quiet the ship is.
“I’ve been on ships a few times and it’s always busting with people. There are no sounds from outside my cabin, it’s eerie,” he said.
Another 41 people on board a cruise ship off Japan’s coast have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus, Japan’s health minister said on Friday.
The new cases raise the number of confirmed infections on board the ship to at least 61, said Katsunobu Kato.
Japanese authorities have tested 273 people on board the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined after a former passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong last month, tested positive for the virus.
“The results of the remaining 171 tests came out and 41 tested positive,” Kato told reporters.
“Today they will be sent to hospitals in several prefectures, and we are now preparing for that.” “In total, out of 273 specimens, 61 tested positive,” he added.
There are more than 3700 passengers and crew on the ship, which has been off Japan’s coast since Monday evening.
The ABC is reporting that five Australians are among the 41 new cases. A total of seven Australian passengers are now known to have contracted the virus.
Three of the 41 new patients are relatively young, aged between 20 and 40, while the remaining 38 are between 50 and 80 years old, and most are in their 70s.
The worker told news.com.au that he first found out about the number of people that had been diagnosed by reading the news.
“To me it feels like this quarantine is a mess and we’re all in a dangerous situation, I feel for the elderly and young children on board who must be really, really worried,” he said.
“They are removing more confirmed coronavirus cases each day and I feel like it could continue.
“The ship is compromised, I understand the importance of quarantine but I think we should all do it somewhere safe. The concern is that we’re going to be left here until all 3700 of us are sick.”
It docked in Yokohama on Thursday to resupply for a quarantine that could last until February 19.
Twenty people who were earlier diagnosed with the virus have already been removed from the vessel and taken to hospitals.
TRAVEL WARNING TO AUSTRALIANS
Australians are being warned against travelling to China as coronavirus continues to spread and take more lives.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said people were still travelling from Australia to China in defiance of official advice.
“Those people frankly are putting themselves in a difficult situation,” Mr Dutton told the Nine Network on Friday.
“They would find it very hard to get back to Australia in certain circumstances and you can’t guarantee their return, particularly if China shuts its borders.”
The virus has killed 636 people and infected more than 30,000.
“Putting yourself into that zone makes for a very difficult situation,” Mr Dutton said.
Australian diplomats are working with Chinese officials to allow another evacuation flight from Wuhan.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison says people should not assume further flights would be possible, whether from Wuhan or mainland China.
“DFAT (foreign affairs department) is now in the process of registering our intention to undertake a second chartered flight,” he told parliament on Thursday.
More Australian evacuees touched down on Christmas Island on Thursday after being flown out of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak. But the government is already making plans about what to do if the outbreak continues and the quarantine facility set up on Christmas Island reaches its 1200-person capacity.
Mr Morrison says defence officials are working to identify mainland sites to take any overflow, with hotels and mines as possible solutions. The latest group to arrive on Christmas Island are 35 Australian citizens and permanent residents who left Wuhan on Wednesday.
They flew out on an Air New Zealand flight that also took 98 New Zealanders and a number of others to Auckland.
The Australian group was then flown by charter plane to Christmas Island, where they have joined 241 evacuees from an earlier Qantas evacuation flight. All face a two-week quarantine process.
None are suspected to have the virus.
There are now 15 confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia: five in Queensland, four each in NSW and Victoria and two in South Australia.
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