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Coronavirus: Over 100 American cruise ship passengers banned from entering the US for 14 days after debarking

After getting off the Diamond Princess, the passengers will be required to wait 14 days without having symptoms or a positive coronavirus test result before they are permitted to board flights to the US
PUBLISHED FEB 19, 2020
Passengers disembark from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Passengers disembark from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

More than 100 Americans, who were quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan -- that has become a coronavirus hotspot -- cannot return home for at least two more weeks because of their high-risk exposure.

After disembarkation from the Diamond Princess, the passengers and crew will have to wait 14 days without having symptoms or a positive coronavirus test result before they are permitted to board flights to the US, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a statement.

“While the quarantine (on the ship) potentially conferred a significant public health benefit in slowing transmission, CDC’s assessment is that it may not have been sufficient to prevent transmission among individuals on the ship,” says the CDC.

It says, “CDC believes the rate of new infections on board, especially among those without symptoms, represents an ongoing risk. Therefore, to protect the health of the American public, all passengers and crew of the ship have been placed under travel restrictions, preventing them from returning to the United States for at least 14 days after they had left the Diamond Princess. Currently, there are more than 100 US citizens still onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship or in hospitals in Japan.”

The American passengers also received a letter from US health authorities, which said they will not be issued a boarding pass or allowed on a flight “until you are no longer at risk of spreading infection during travel.”

The letter also warned them against trying to enter the country through Mexico or Canada or at a seaport, saying “you will be stopped by US Customs and Border Protection officials,” reports AP.

A passenger looks outside from the balcony of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The move comes after over 300 Americans, who had been passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, were evacuated by plane from Japan to the US. On February 16, the US State Department facilitated the voluntary repatriation of these passengers. 

One plane carrying passengers from Diamond Princess arrived at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California just before midnight on February 16. The second one arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas early on February 17. 

All passengers, including 14 who tested positive for COVID-19, were quarantined at the military bases in California and Texas on February 17.  These passengers, who returned from Japan, were housed separately from individuals already in quarantine from previous Wuhan repatriation flights.

However, the remaining Americans will not be allowed to enter the US before they finish the mandatory 14-day quarantine after leaving the ship. 

“If an individual from this cruise arrives in the US before the 14-day period ends, they will still be subject to a mandatory quarantine until they have completed the 14-day period with no symptoms or positive coronavirus test results. Because of their high-risk exposure, there may be additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the remaining passengers on board the Diamond Princess,” says the CDC.

Officials and staffs prepare for the passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship to leave a port in Yokohama. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers started leaving the Diamond Princess cruise ship on February 19 after the end of a two-week quarantine that has been subject to criticism. Many believe the quarantine on the ship has failed to stop the spread of the new coronavirus among passengers and crew. As of Tuesday, 542 cases have been identified among the original 3,711 people on the ship.

While Japanese officials have said that the number of infected patients is leveling off, dozens of new cases on the ship continue to mount daily. On February 17, 88 people tested positive, and a day earlier, 99 others were found to have been infected. 

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