1,800 passengers on a cruise ship that originated from Wuhan are being tested by Hong Kong authorities for coronavirus. A few crew members of the ship said they had a fever and other symptoms. According to authorities, 90 per cent of passengers on board were Hong Kongers and authorities aren't letting anyone leave the vessel without permission.
Previously, three mainland Chinese that had been on the vessel, The World Dream ship between January. 19 and 24 were found to have contracted the virus. The ship operated by Dream Cruises was denied entry in the southern Taiwan port of Kaohsiung on Tuesday. On Monday, the ship visited Taiwan's northern Keelung port. It is not clear how long passengers and crew would be kept on the ship.
At least 10 on Japan cruise ship have new coronavirus
A Japan luxury cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined off the coast of Japan. 10 people on the vessel carrying 3,711 people have confirmed to have been tested positive for the new coronavirus, Japan's health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Wednesday. The testing began after a former passenger, who disembarked at Hong Kong was tested positive for the virus.
Travellers on-board a cruise ship that docked in Hong Kong on Wednesday will be allowed to leave the vessel after health checks, the operator said, despite three recent passengers testing positive for coronavirus.
The rest of the passengers and crew on-board the ship will be required to stay on the vessel for 14 days, Kato said, since, as per medical consensus the new virus has an incubation period of up to two weeks.
Around 50 per cent of the ship's passengers are Japanese, while the rest belong to other nationalities. None of the passengers onboard has visited China in recent months.
Following Beijing's announcement of the calamity, Japan has fast-tracked implementation of new rules allowing it to deny entry to people who have recently travelled to Wuhan, or those with Chinese passports issued there.
Tokyo has also evacuated more than 500 Japanese citizens from Wuhan and attracted some criticism for its relatively loose quarantine approach.
Singapore business meeting linked to Malaysian, Korean coronavirus cases
Singapore links spread of the deadly coronavirus to a travel gathering at a plush hotel of the city-state, giving rise to worry regarding the secondary transmission of the virus.
Malaysia on Tuesday said the 41-year-old businessman, the nation's first case might have contracted the virus while at an event that included many international delegates, some from China.
A 38-year-old South Korean who came into contact with the Malaysian when he travelled to Singapore for a business conference has also been infected, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Wednesday.
The death toll from the epidemic — believed to have surfaced late last year in a market selling illegal wildlife at the central Chinese city of Wuhan — passed 490 on Wednesday.
