Two Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers die from coronavirus


Two elderly cruise ship passengers with coronavirus who were on Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess have died, according to Japan’s health ministry, the Associated Press has confirmed.

a plane parked on the side of a road: The quarantined ship Diamond Princess is pictured through barbed wire at Yokohama port in Yokohama, near Tokyo Monday, Feb. 17, 2020. Japanese officials have confirmed 99 more people infected by the new virus aboard the ship, the Health Ministry said Monday. (Mayuko Isobe/Kyodo News via AP)

A health ministry official confirmed that they had been previously hospitalized in serious condition and had existing chronic diseases. The official spoke anonymously, citing office protocol.

Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, which has built a map of coronavirus data including cases, fatalities and recoveries, also cites two deaths from the Diamond Princess, which brings the total death toll from the virus in Japan to three. Per the data, 621 cases of the virus had been identified among the 3,711 quarantined passengers and crew, making the ship the site of the most infections outside of China; one Diamond Princess passenger has recovered.

According to Japanese broadcast outlet, NHK, the two Japanese cruise passengers who died from the virus were an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman. 

The two passengers were taken to the hospital on Feb. 11 and 12, respectively, and each tested positive the day after they were admitted, Health Ministry official Masami Sakoi said. They are believed to have been infected before the ship was officially placed under quarantine on Feb. 5.

It was not immediately known why they were not tested earlier when they developed initial symptoms and consulted with the ship’s clinic, said Sakoi.

The Japanese Health Ministry also revealed Thursday that two more government officials became infected while lending clerical support to the quarantine effort on the Diamond Princess. 

Four others associated with the quarantine – an official, a paramedic who carried an infected passenger, a Health Ministry worker and an emergency relief medical expert – have also been sickened.

The two deaths were the first on record of any of the people who tested positive on board. Those on board who tested positive over the course of the quarantine were taken off the ship and brought to hospitals for further evaluation and treatment. 

Their deaths bring the Japanese count to three.

The Diamond Princess quarantine was ending

Passengers began to return to land Wednesday after a two-week quarantine due to coronavirus on the Diamond Princess ship, which remains docked in Yokohama, Japan. 

Approximately 600 guests disembarked on Wednesday and another several hundred guests were expected to be cleared to disembark on Thursday, according to a statement from Princess Cruises shared by Negin Kamali, director of public relations.

Matt Smith, a passenger who has kept in touch with USA TODAY throughout the quarantine, was on solid ground around 1:20 p.m. local time Thursday. He and his wife, Katherine Codekas, had not yet heard of any passenger fatalities as a result of coronavirus. 

The couple received their negative test results the night before on a form slipped into their state room, according to a tweet from Smith. 

Although the ship’s quarantine period was scheduled to end Wednesday, more than 100 American passengers on board will have to wait another two weeks to return home.

While 328 Americans had already evacuated the ship and are in quarantine in the U.S. – including 14 who tested positive for the virus – some Americans on board, including Smith, chose to finish their quarantine on the ship.

PHOTOS: Passengers disembark from coronavirus-quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship

Slide 1 of 30: A passenger leaves after disembarking from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan, on Feb. 19, 2020, after the cruise ship's coronavirus quarantine came to an end.
Slide 2 of 30: Passengers leave after disembarking from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had been in quarantine due to cases of the new COVID-19 coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan on Feb. 19, 2020.
Slide 3 of 30: A bus carrying passengers, who will board a Qantas aircraft chartered by the Australian government, from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship drives at the Daikoku Pier on Feb. 19, 2020 in Yokohama, Japan.
Slide 4 of 30: People wave from a bus carrying passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship drive at the Daikoku Pier on Feb. 19, 2020 in Yokohama, Japan.

Slide 5 of 30: Buses carrying U.S. passengers who were aboard the coronavirus-quarantined cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, seen in background, leave Yokohama port, near Tokyo, early Feb. 17, 2020. The cruise ship was carrying nearly 3,500 passengers and crew members under quarantine.
Slide 6 of 30: Buses carrying passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship leave a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Feb. 17, 2020. A group of Americans cut short a 14-day quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in the port of Yokohama, Japan, to be whisked back to the U.S. but will have to spend another quarantine period at a U.S. military facility.
Slide 7 of 30: In this image from a video taken on Feb. 17, 2020, U.S. passengers who evacuated off the quarantined cruise ship the Diamond Princess board a Kalitta Air plane bound for the U.S., at Haneda airport in Tokyo.
Slide 8 of 30: American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Feb. 17, 2020, in San Antonio, Texas.
Slide 9 of 30: A bus driven by a chauffeur in protective gear departs the dock occupied by the quarantined Diamond Princess. A group of passengers who are elderly or have pre-existing medical conditions were removed from the ship Friday and will finish out their quarantine on shore in Japan.

Slide 10 of 30: The Diamond Princess cruise ship has been quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, due to coronavirus since Feb. 4.
Slide 11 of 30: The Diamond Princess arrives back in port in Yokohama, Japan, Feb. 12 after going out to sea to produce potable water. The ship remains under quarantine until Feb. 19 after hundreds of people were diagnosed with coronavirus.
Slide 12 of 30: The Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, on Feb. 11, 2020.
Slide 13 of 30: Relatives of Diamond Princess passengers wave towards the quarantined cruise ship at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan. The ship went out to sea Tuesday to dump wastewater and generate potable water.
Slide 14 of 30: People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with thousands of people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port on February 10, 2020.

Slide 15 of 30: A passenger waves from behind banners reading please broadcast this on TV, thank you for reporting this and shortage of medicine from a balcony of the Diamond Princess cruise ship as it sits docked at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine on February 11, 2020 in Yokohama, Japan.
Slide 16 of 30: Military personnel set up a covered walkway next to the Diamond Princess cruise ship on February 10, 2020.
Slide 17 of 30: A general view shows the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port on February 10, 2020.
Slide 18 of 30: A passenger looks outside from the balcony of the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in the Yokohama Port Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, Yokohama, Japan.
Slide 19 of 30: Members of the media film the cruise ship Diamond Princess as it sits in quarantine in the Yokohama Port Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, Yokohama, Japan. The death toll from the new virus outbreak surpassed the number of fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.
Slide 20 of 30: Staff load supplies to the cruise ship Diamond Princess anchored at the Yokohama Port in Yokohama, near Tokyo Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. There are 3,700 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess who must remain on board for 14 days.
Slide 21 of 30: A passenger stands on the balcony of the cruise ship Diamond Princess anchored at the Yokohama Port, near Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020.
Slide 22 of 30: Military personnel and medical staff clad in protective gear are seen at work near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama on February 7, 2020.
Slide 23 of 30: A passenger stands next to clothes drying on a balcony onboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama on February 7, 2020.
Slide 24 of 30: The Diamond Princess cruise ship sits docked at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after some people on board were confirmed to have coronavirus, on February 7, 2020 in Yokohama, Japan.
Slide 25 of 30: An ambulance is seen at the Daikoku pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama on February 6, 2020 to transfer patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to a hospital.
Slide 26 of 30: Ambulances wait on the dock near the Diamond Princess cruise ship to transfer passengers who tested positive for the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal.
Slide 27 of 30: Medical workers in protective suits walk on the cruise ship Diamond Princess anchored off Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 4, 2020.
Slide 28 of 30: The Diamond Princess cruise ship approaches Daikoku Pier where it will be resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken to hospital.
Slide 29 of 30: A passenger looks out from a balcony of the Diamond Princess cruise ship while it is docked at Daikoku Pier.
Slide 30 of 30: The Diamond Princess cruise ship is seen anchored at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal.

South Korea, Australia and Hong Kong evacuated their residents for quarantines, as well, and Canada and Italy also sent flights for their citizens.

According to a letter from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to American passengers who chose to remain on the ship, they must remain symptom-free and not have any positive tests for an additional 14 days before they can re-enter the U.S.

Smith and Codekas plan to spend that time exploring Tokyo and perhaps will take day trips to the surrounding area. 

Japan’s government has been questioned over its decision to keep people on the ship, which some experts have called a perfect virus incubator.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told the USA TODAY Editorial Board and reporters Monday that the original idea to keep people safely quarantined on the ship wasn’t unreasonable. But even with the quarantine process on the ship, virus transmission still occurred.

“The quarantine process failed,” Fauci said. “I’d like to sugarcoat it and try to be diplomatic about it, but it failed. People were getting infected on that ship. Something went awry in the process of the quarantining on that ship. I don’t know what it was, but a lot of people got infected on that ship.”

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato initially said those disembarking the ship with negative virus tests had fulfilled the Japanese quarantine requirement and were free to walk out and go home on public transportation. Later Wednesday, he urged the former passengers to refrain from non-essential outings and try to stay home for about two weeks. 

“COVID-19 is not 100% known, and a lot of people got infected on the Diamond Princess. Taking those factors into consideration, we believe taking extra caution will contribute to preventing the risk of future infections,” he said.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said a more controlled health watch for the crew would start immediately because they can isolate themselves by spreading out and using vacated passenger rooms.

Contributing: David Oliver, Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

RELATED VIDEO: 14 coronavirus cruise evacuees chartered back to U.S. to 2nd quarantine


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