U.S. Citizens evacuated from virus-hit ship in Japan

February 17, 2020

Tokyo--Two U.S. government-chartered planes left Tokyo's Haneda airport on Monday morning, carrying U.S. citizens who had stayed in a cruise ship quarantined at the port of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, because of concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government plans to allow people on the Diamond Princess ship who tested negative for the virus to disembark on Wednesday or later, after their 14-day quarantine ends.

According to U.S. media reports, about 400 U.S. citizens were on board the cruise ship. Of them, about 300 left the ship and were transported to the Haneda airport by 10 buses operated by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.

Those with symptoms apparently from the coronavirus were not allowed to take the U.S. charter flights.

On the cruise ship, there were reportedly 44 U.S. nationals infected with the virus.

U.S. evacuees on the two charter flights are bound to be quarantined for another 14 days after arriving at U.S. air bases in California and Texas.

Some U.S. passengers are believed to have chosen to stay on the cruise ship apparently because the ship quarantine is set to end in a few days, and also due to worries about infection risks on the charter planes and the additional quarantine in the United States.

The Diamond Princess was placed under quarantine earlier this month after a Hong Kong passenger who had already disembarked was found infected with the virus. Jiji Press