Novel coronavirus: Virus spreads on cruise ship in Japan, US passengers flying home | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
June 16, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2025
Virus spreads on cruise ship in Japan, US passengers flying home

World+Biz

Reuters
17 February, 2020, 08:55 am
Last modified: 17 February, 2020, 12:00 pm

Related News

  • Lost angels: How the West is turning against the very immigrants who helped build it
  • Marines prepare for Los Angeles deployment as protests spread across US
  • Deal to get US-China trade truce back on track is done, Trump says
  • China's mega-embassy faces its MAGA nemesis
  • US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew

Virus spreads on cruise ship in Japan, US passengers flying home

The airline was involved in previous US evacuation operations prompted by the virus outbreak in China

Reuters
17 February, 2020, 08:55 am
Last modified: 17 February, 2020, 12:00 pm
A bus arrives at the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, February 16, 2020. Photo :Reuters
A bus arrives at the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, February 16, 2020. Photo :Reuters

Hundreds of passengers were preparing to be evacuated from a cruise ship on Sunday after spending two weeks under quarantine off Japan over the coronavirus, with Americans flying home on chartered evacuation planes early Monday morning.

Seventy more people were confirmed with the virus on board the Diamond Princess on Sunday, bringing the number of cases from the ship to 355, the most anywhere outside China.

The luxury cruise voyage with more than 3,000 passengers aboard was struck by the virus earlier this month, leaving them and crew in confinement.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Two charter flights operated by Kalitta Air carrying a few hundred American passengers from the ship departed from Haneda Airport on Monday morning.

The airline was involved in previous US evacuation operations prompted by the virus outbreak in China.

Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong and Italy have followed the United States in announcing flights to bring home their citizens from the ship, which has been under quarantine since Feb. 3.

Countries have said passengers should be symptom-free to board the flights, and are likely to face quarantine on arrival.

Gay Courter, one of the American passengers on one of the chartered flights, told Reuters they were flying to Travis Air Force Base in California, then would be sent to Omaha or San Antonio for another two week of quarantine on US soil.

The other flight will land at Kelly Field Air Force Base, Texas, according to the US Department of Defense.

Courter was on the cruise with her husband to celebrate her 75th birthday.

Photographs from inside one of the charter flights showed a portable bio-containment unit and a US health official in a protective suit.

"Quarantine is necessary. This flight will be hell. Portapotties," Courter said, referring to the converted cargo plane she was in.

HAZMAT SUITS AND MASKS
Another American passenger, Matthew Smith, posted photos on Twitter showing a fleet of more than 10 buses that took US nationals from Yokohama port to the airport.

Smith said US officials, dressed in full hazmat suits and face masks, had visited his room to check if he would disembark. He said he wanted to stay.

The charter flights were the only option for eligible US passengers to fly home until March 4 at the earliest, the US embassy in Tokyo has said.

The ship, owned by Carnival Corp., has been held in Yokohama since a man who had disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus two weeks ago.

The ship, once bustling with busy restaurants, game nights and Broadway-style shows, has been reduced to silence.

Those with the disease have been taken to hospital in Japan and no one from the ship has died. Around half of the guests onboard are from Japan.

There were approximately 400 US citizens on the ship, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The US Embassy in Tokyo had said passengers and crew on board the ship were at high risk of exposure to the virus and it recommended its citizens get off and take one of the flights home.

"This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are taking additional steps to assist US citizens," it said.

All passengers were to be screened before being allowed on the chartered flights and everyone would be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival back in the United States.

"No symptomatic or infected passengers will be allowed to board," it said.

Clyde Smith, 80, who was taken from the ship to a Tokyo hospital after testing positive for the virus, told Reuters on Sunday he had not been told if he would be allowed on a US evacuation plane.

Latest figures from Beijing on Sunday showed 68,500 cases of the illness and 1,665 deaths, mostly in Hubei province.

Japan detected six fresh cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, apart from those on the ship, the health ministry said, taking the total number of in-land infections to 59.

Top News

corona virus / US / evacuation

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infograph: TBS
    Ship congestion at Ctg port lingers as berthing time rises
  • BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
    BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed

MOST VIEWED

  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Merger of 5 Islamic banks at final stage: BB governor
  • UCB launches Bangladesh's first microservices-based open API banking platform
    UCB launches Bangladesh's first microservices-based open API banking platform
  • Photo: Collected
    Pakistan rejects reports of missile supply to Iran
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
  • Crore-taka bank accounts edge down by 719 in March quarter
    Crore-taka bank accounts edge down by 719 in March quarter
  • Nepal begins 38MW hydropower export to Bangladesh
    Nepal begins 38MW hydropower export to Bangladesh

Related News

  • Lost angels: How the West is turning against the very immigrants who helped build it
  • Marines prepare for Los Angeles deployment as protests spread across US
  • Deal to get US-China trade truce back on track is done, Trump says
  • China's mega-embassy faces its MAGA nemesis
  • US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

14h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

10h | TBS World
Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

10h | Others
Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

11h | TBS World
Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

10h | Others
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net