Coronavirus: 500 passengers leave the sultry behind-the-scenes of the "Diamond Princess"

Text by: RFI Follow

About 500 people will be able to disembark from the "Diamond Princess" Wednesday, February 19. They were confined to their cabins, the coronavirus having contaminated 542 of the 3,711 occupants of this ship placed in quarantine in the port of Yokohama since the beginning of February.

Publicity

It's time for relief for some 500 cruise passengers, locked up since the beginning of the month on the liner Diamond Princess, placed in quarantine because of SARS-CoV-2 . The landing operation started with a good half hour delay out of sight. The Japanese saw nothing because the cameras were kept several tens of meters from the ship and the authorities demanded that all the images be blurred. From a distance, the silhouette of cruise passengers disembarking could however be seen, says our correspondent in Japan, Bruno Duval .

►Read: Coronavirus: aboard the Diamond Princess , passengers dream of freedom

Only about 500 passengers, of the 3,711 people on board, were allowed to leave the ship on Wednesday February 19. But others will follow since the landing will continue until Friday.

To get the precious sesame to dry land, the conditions are strict. Only those who have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 who have no symptoms such as fever or cough and who have not been in contact with an infected person are authorized to leave the ship. This Wednesday morning, they had to undertake to inform the authorities of the evolution of their state of health.

Once on land, the disembarked were installed in buses and taxis and then accompanied to their respective destinations. Persons without symptoms and whose test is negative have received an official certificate indicating that they do not constitute " any risk of infection with the new coronavirus, said person also having no symptoms at the time of the inspection ".

Japanese worries

Despite the measures taken, this was not enough to reassure citizens. Since the announcement of the landing, we could read anxious comments on social networks. The Japanese have heard the explanations of specialists on the incubation period of the disease and are therefore worried, because, the day before, still 99 new contaminations were discovered on board.

►Read: Coronavirus: Asia worries and shivers

Some therefore wonder if passengers disembarked this morning will not, in turn, fall ill in a few days and, in the meantime, contaminate a lot of people. A poll published Tuesday, February 17 highlights the government's deficit on the management of the crisis around the Diamond Princess . According to the study, the Japanese believe that there is a deficit of explanations on the part of the government. Only 39% of Japanese believe that it has lived up to the events.

" Totally chaotic " situation on board

However, the situation on the Diamond Princess would be " totally chaotic ", according to the professor of the division of infectious diseases of the University of Kobe, Kentaro Iwata. In videos (in English), viewed hundreds of thousands of times , he says he was “ afraid ” on board the liner. “ This vessel is totally unsuitable for controlling the spread of infections. There is no distinction between green (healthy) and red (potentially infected) areas "and" staff can move from place to place, eat, make calls, "he explains.

“ I have been to Africa to treat the Ebola epidemic . I have been in other countries for cholera, in China in 2003 to take care of SARS (...) I have never been afraid of being infected myself ", warns the specialist in infectious diseases before adding, " inside the Diamond Princess , I was afraid (...) because there was no way to tell where the virus was ". So much so that he quarantined himself 14 days so as not to risk infecting his family.

Faced with these criticisms , government spokesman Yoshihide Suga assured that " since February 5, rigorous measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the infection, including by wearing masks, washing hands and using a disinfectant . " Regarding the lack of separation between contaminated and healthy areas, he replied " we are doing our best ", also ensuring that, according to specialists who advise the government, the situation is " under control ".

►Read: The 7-point coronavirus

(with AFP )

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Japan
• coronavirus
• Health and Medicine

On the same subject

Coronavirus: aboard the "Diamond Princess", passengers dream of freedom

Coronavirus: Criticized, China Focuses on Treatment of Disease

Coronavirus: China forced to forfeit Davis Cup