3,700 segregated on ship off Japan in coronavirus scare

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - A ship with 3,700 passengers, 251 Canadian, was quarantined off the coast of Japan, it was reported Wednesday.

So far, 273 have been tested for the coronavirus because they showed symptoms of the infection, which includes a cough and fever, and 10 tested positive.

The confirmed cases have been evacuated to a hospital, while those remaining on board are restricted to their quarters and will remain there for 14 days -- the end of the incubation period for coronavirus -- to ensure they do not have the infection.

No Canadians have tested positive to date.

Supplies including food will be delivered to the ship, Princess Cruises’ officials said.

Princess Cruises owns the Diamond Princess cruise ship sitting off the coast of Yokohama.

A second ship, the World Dream operated by Genting Cruise Lines and carrying 1,800 passengers, has been quarantined in Hong Kong, reports said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Canada is having trouble extricating its citizens by air from Wuhan, China, the city where the coronavirus first surfaced.

A plane was supposed to fly Monday to Vietnam then to Wuhan to evacuate Canadians, but the timetable was pushed back by the number who wanted to leave, Minister of Health Patty Hajdu said Tuesday.

Canadian officials confirmed Tuesday the plane was on its way to Hanoi.

“The delay in terms of the first plane was really not having a sense of how many Canadians needed that support,” she said. “That led us to believe we might be able to extricate Canadians using our allied partners who had additional space on planes they were using. We weren’t actually thinking that we had the demand that we did.”

The number who wanted out grew quickly.

“Nine days ago we had two people requesting evacuation,” said Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the Canadian foreign affairs ministry. “Then it came to 20, then it came to 50. Now we are just over 300 but that is just in the last several days.”

That number is now 308 and there are only 250 seats on the plane, Hajdu said.

With limited seats, only those with a Canadian passport and valid Chinese visa will be permitted to board the airplane, officials said.