Three more Hongkongers aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Yokohama, Japan were confirmed to have COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the total number to 53, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu announced.
There are 3,700 passengers and crew on the vessel, which left Hong Kong on Jan. 25 and visited Vietnam, Taiwan, and Okinawa. As of Tuesday, 542 people on board had been infected with the novel coronavirus after 88 new cases were confirmed on the same day.
The city’s security chief is pressing Japan to prioritize the evacuation of the roughly 300 Hong Kong residents that have been stranded on the cruise ship for a two-week quarantine that is just coming to an end.
“I believe all governments hope to evacuate their residents on board as soon as possible, but Hong Kong has a sound reason to do so given the number of Hong Kong passengers is not small,” Lee said.
The secretary said while Japanese authorities are now allowing the 30 Hongkongers who have been cleared of the virus to disembark starting today, it might not be done all at once.
The government, meanwhile, wants all Hong Kong passengers stranded on the ship to come home as soon as possible, by tomorrow at the latest, Lee explained.
He added that the government is also preparing for a third chartered flight for the passengers, while 70 officials have been sent to Yokohama to assist the stranded Hong Kong passengers.
Lee confirmed that all of the 350-odd Hong Kong residents on board had been contacted, and more than 200 expressed their willingness to take the two Cathay Pacific chartered flights arranged by the government on Thursday.
He said the handling of the city’s passengers took some arm-twisting, as the Japanese government had failed to provide details for them despite repeated requests, including the number of people tested positive or negative for the virus, and the number of those who have had contact with infected patients.
“Many Hong Kong residents [on board] are very nervous… We do not accept delays,” he said.
Upon their arrival back in Hong Kong, passengers will be quarantined again in the newly-completed Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan for two weeks to see if they show any symptoms of COVID-19.
The increase in the number of infected Hongkongers on the cruise came amid news of two new cases of COVID-19 back home, with the number of local infections rising to 63 as of this afternoon, including two deaths.
