Diamond Princess Passengers Commemorate Five-Year COVID-19 Outbreak Anniversary
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Diamond Princess Passengers Commemorate Five-Year COVID-19 Outbreak Anniversary
- Five years after the initial COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, former passengers gathered in Yokohama to remember the 14 individuals who died.
- The outbreak, which began in February 2020, saw 712 of the approximately 3,700 passengers and crew infected with the virus.
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Former passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship recently gathered in Yokohama, Japan, to mark the five-year anniversary of the significant COVID-19 outbreak that occurred aboard the vessel in early 2020. The event served as a memorial for the 14 people who died in connection with the outbreak.
The Diamond Princess departed from Yokohama on January 20, 2020, for a tour of Southeast Asia. On February 1, 2020, after a passenger who had disembarked in Hong Kong tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the ship was quarantined upon its arrival in Yokohama on February 3.
During the quarantine period, which began in earnest on February 5, 2020, the virus spread rapidly within the confined environment of the ship. Of the 3,711 passengers and crew on board, 712 individuals, or 19.2%, ultimately tested positive for COVID-19. The ship became one of the largest clusters of the virus outside mainland China at the time.
Passengers with confirmed cases were transferred to isolation facilities ashore for treatment, while others remained in quarantine on the ship. Disembarkation of passengers who tested negative began on February 19, 2020, with all passengers and crew eventually leaving the ship by early March 2020. The incident prompted Japan to temporarily suspend the acceptance of foreign cruise ships.