Virus Continued To Spread On Ship After Quarantine
Japanese health experts say the new coronavirus continued to spread on the cruise ship Diamond Princess even after the passengers were told to stay in their cabins as a quarantine measure.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases reported this on its English website on Wednesday.
It said that of the 531 passengers and crew confirmed to have the virus as of Tuesday, 276 showed symptoms but 255 did not.
Records show when 184 of the 276 developed symptoms. Twenty-three caught the virus after February 6, when the quarantine began, from passengers in the same cabins who tested positive.
Of the 13 crewmembers who developed symptoms after February 13, five were infected by passengers who shared a cabin with others confirmed to have the virus.
The institute says there is clear evidence that substantial transmission of the virus occurred before the quarantine.
It says transmission toward the end of the quarantine period appears to have occurred mostly among crew or in passenger cabins. But it says individual isolation of all those on board was impossible and some crew had to keep performing essential duties for the functioning of the vessel.
