Japan: 23 cruise passengers not tested before disembarking
Japan’s health minister says 23 passengers got off the Diamond Princess cruise ship without being tested for the new virus due to procedural mistakes, another sign of sloppiness in the quarantine of the ship, where more than 600 people were infected
By
MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press
February 22, 2020, 8:28 AM
3 min read
Image IconA photographer takes photos near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. Passengers tested negative for COVID-19 started disembarking since Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)A photographer takes photos near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. Passengers tested negative for COVID-19 started disembarking since Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan’s health minister said Saturday that 23 passengers were released from the Diamond Princess cruise ship without being tested for the new virus due to procedural mistakes, another sign of sloppiness in the quarantine of the ship, where more than 600 people were infected.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the 23 were tested before the quarantine began Feb. 5, but were allowed to leave the ship on Wednesday and Thursday without being tested again. Three of them have since tested negative, and most of the others have agreed to be tested, he said.
He said officials have all tracked the 23 passengers down and asked them to self-quarantine at home for 14 days.
“We deeply regret that there was an operational error,” Kato said at a news conference. “We will examine what went wrong so we will not repeat the same mistake.”
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Japan’s health minister said Saturday that 23 passengers were released from Diamond Princess cruise ship without being tested for coronavirus due to procedural mistakes.
abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/japan-23-cruise-passengers-tested-disembarking-69142446
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