A top official at the National Institutes of Health says the quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship ‘failed’ after more than 300 Americans passengers were evacuated – 14 of whom tested positive for coronavirus out of 542 total.
More than 3,700 passengers and crew members were stuck onboard the ship that has been docked off the Japanese city of Yokohama since February 5.
They were meant to be under quarantine for 14 days before the US arranged an evacuation for its citizens 12 days in, saying people on the Diamond Princess were at a high risk of exposure to the virus.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, says the quarantine was ineffective at preventing the virus’s spread, with cases on the ship now reaching 542.
‘The quarantine process failed,’ Dr Fauci told USA TODAY.
‘I’d like to sugarcoat it and try to be diplomatic about it, but it failed. People were getting infected on that ship. Something went awry in the process of the quarantining on that ship. I don’t know what it was, but a lot of people got infected on that ship.’
He added that about four or five people became infected every hour despite passengers being confined to their rooms.
Thirteen ‘high-risk’ American passengers are back in the US, all of whom are at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) after landing in either Texas or California.
They flew back – albeit in isolation chambers – on board the same planes as passengers who tested negative for the virus.
One passenger has been transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit after the presented with a cough and lightheadedness. Local officials said that the person has a chronic health condition, but did not specify what sort.
Another patient in isolation, Jeri Goldman, says her husband, Carl, has tested positive for the virus at UNMC after he developed a fever on the flight from Japan to California, but hospital officials say they are waiting for CDC results to confirm the diagnosis.
More than 73,000 people have now been infected with the virus worldwide, while more than 1,800 people have died from it.
Overall, Japan has 419 confirmed cases of the virus, including one death. The US has confirmed 15 cases within the country. Separately, one American citizen died in China.
Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says a coronavirus quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan ‘failed’. Pictured: A patient in a special Nebraska Biocontainment Unit after being evacuated to the US
Although passengers were confined to their rooms, between four and five people became infected every hour. Pictured: A patient in the biocontainment unit as seen in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak
On Sunday, two planes carrying more than 300 US citizens evacuated them to Travis Air Force Base in California and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas (pictured) where they are in another 14-day quarantine
The first 747 plane touched down at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California just before 11.30pm on Sunday local time, before the second plane arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas a few hours later.
The passengers had all been deemed ‘fit to fly’ and were not showing symptoms before disembarking from the cruise ship. As the evacuees were being taken to the airport in Tokyo, results from tests carried out two to three days earlier came back and showed the 14 passengers had the infection.
Despite the US earlier saying no infected passenger would be allowed to leave, those who tested positive were still allowed to board the planes because they did not have symptoms. The State Department said they were being isolated separately from other passengers on the flights.
The U.S said it arranged the evacuation because people on the Diamond Princess were at a high risk of exposure to the virus given more than 450 passengers have tested positive since the cruise liner was ordered to stay under quarantine on February 4.
As countries extricated their respective citizens from the cruise liner, which is by far the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside China, some 3,000 people who have spent the last two weeks or more in a high risk environment fanned out across the globe.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials have warned that people can be asymptomatic, test negative for coronavirus and still develop later. They and World Health Organization (WHO) experts have also cautioned that even asymptomatic people can have and transmit the virus.
And that has some experts very worried.
‘There’s a possibility that anyone who is infected and asymptomatic could start a chain of infection wherever they return to,’ Dr Stanley Deresinkski, a professor and infectious disease specialist at Stanford University told Fortune.
He was referring to passengers from the Westerdam cruise ship, currently in Cambodia but preparing to return home despite the fact that an 84-year-old American woman on board was diagnosed with coronavirus, but the same could certainly be true of the Diamond Princess, by far the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside China.
Despite the US earlier saying no infected passenger would be allowed to leave, those who tested positive were still allowed to board the planes because they did not have symptoms. Pictured: One of the two planes landing at Travis Air Force Base in California
The State Department confirmed that, after the evacuees had been placed on buses to the airport, 14 people who were not showing symptoms had tested positive for the virus – and were then placed into isolation chambers (pictured)
340 Americans decided to abandon ship and take the government charter flights back to the US, where they will be under additional quarantine on two military bases for another 14 days
Jeri Goldman, says her husband, Carl, has tested positive for the virus at UNMC. Pictured: Carl arrives in Nebraska and is placed on a stretcher to be taken to Nebraska Medicine.
NEW YORK HONEYMOONERS EVACUATED FROM DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP SAY ‘IF THEIR MARRIAGE CAN SURVIVE THIS IT CAN SURVIVE ANYTHING’
A pair of newlyweds who were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship are in isolation along with hundreds of Americans being monitored for coronavirus.
Guy and Milena Cerullo, from Long Island, New York, were on their honeymoon – a 29-day cruise – when the ship docked in Japan and was placed under quarantine beginning February 5.
The couple told Fox News at the time, after being stuck in their room for five days that were ‘desperate’ to get home.
‘We need help,’ Milena said.
‘We’re in a desperate, desperate stage. We’re American citizens. We just want to be home.’
The newlyweds said that their physical health was fine but that their mental health was suffering.
On Sunday – after 12 days – two planes transferred more than 300 US citizens to military bases in California and Texas.
Fourteen Americans were allowed to travel back to the US despite being diagnosed with the virus.
From there, 13 passengers deemed ‘high-risk’ were transferred to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
It’s not clear whether Guy and Milena are under quarantine in California or in Texas.
‘I’ve just missed them so much. It’s just, I’ve never been away from my daughter this long,’ Milena’s mother, Josephine Basso, told ABC 7 NY.
‘I can’t even imagine, 14 days stuck on there, plus the 29 days before that.’
The US quarantine will last another two weeks, after which the passengers will be allowed to return home.
Guy’s mother, Tracy Cerullo, told ABC 7 NY, that if the couple’s marriage can survive this ordeal, it can survive anything.
‘Because picture being confined in one room with your wife or your husband for 30 days, already, on a cruise,’ she said.
‘And then being confined, not being able to leave the room. I don’t know if I could do that. And I’ve been with my husband for 35 years.’
Guy and Milena Cerullo are in quarantine in the US after they were stuck on the Diamond Princess cruise ship for 12 days after dozens of passengers tested positive for coronavirus. Pictured: Guy, left, and Milena wearing masks
The couple (left and right) were on their honeymoon when the ship went under quarantine in Japan. The family says that if Guy and Milena’s marriage can survive this ordeal, it can survive anything.
Japan said that 340 Americans were taken to Tokyo’s airport to be evacuated, while another those who had already been diagnosed were forced to stay behind for treatment. A handful of others opted to stay
So far, 542 people on the ship have tested positive for coronavirus, 14 of which were Americans. Pictured: Buses carrying US passengers who were aboard the quarantined cruise leaves Yokohama port
US passengers from the Diamond Princess are seen on charter buses taking them to Haneda Airport on Monday, courtesy of Philip and Gay Courter
Passengers are seen boarding one of two planes bound for the US at Tokyo’s Haneda airport late Sunday after they evacuated the Diamond Princess cruise ship
AT LEAST 140 TRAVELERS WERE TURNED AWAY AT US AIRPORTS, BORDERS AND PORTS OVER 10 DAYS FOR FEAR THEY HAD CORONAVIRUS
At least 140 travelers were barred from entering the US over a 10-day period, the US Department of Homeland Security has revealed.
On February 2, the Trump Administration imposed travel restrictions blocking all foreign nationals who have visited China in the prior two weeks – except for the immediate family citizens or permanent residents – before arriving in the US.
US citizens returning from China are arriving at 11 different US airports, where as many as 200 Customs and Border Protection officers screen them daily.
According to DHS data provided to CNN, 14 foreign nationals were turned away at US airports while 126 were blocked from entering at land ports and borders between February 2 and February 12.
Another 34 people were stopped at preclearance locations at foreign airports where US officials screen travelers before letting them board flights to America.
Data viewed by CNN also revealed that 43,263 passengers were referred for potential secondary screening by customs officers. Of that number, 23,836 received screening.
Customs officers referred 43,263 air travelers for potential secondary screening since the efforts began on February 2. Of those referred at airports, 23,836 required secondary screening, according to the data.
US officials say travel restrictions are important for preventing the virus’s spread, but health experts say such bans are ineffective.
‘All of the evidence we have indicates that travel restrictions and quarantines directed at individual countries are unlikely to keep the virus out of our borders,’ Jennifer Nuzzo, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security told a US House of Representatives committee earlier this month.
‘These measures may exacerbate the epidemic’s social and economic tolls. And can make us less safe.’
Data from the Department of Homeland Security reveals 14 foreign nationals were turned away at US airports while 126 were blocked from entering at land ports and borders between February 2 and February 12. Pictured: Passengers wear masks as they check in to their Air China flight to Beijing, at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on February 2
Another 34 people were stopped at preclearance locations at foreign airports where US officials screen travelers before letting them board flights to America. Pictured: Passengers wear masks as they wait for standby tickets on a China Eastern flight to Shanghai, at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on February 2
FRUSTRATIONS RUN ABOUND AS EVACUATED AMERICANS FROM DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP DREAD ADDITIONAL QUARANTINE
The Americans who did evacuate the ship said they were frustrated about the additional two-week quarantine in the Us because they believed they would be able to walk free from the Diamond Princess when the ship’s quarantine is scheduled to be lifted on Wednesday.
‘It’s like a prison sentence for something I did not do,’ passenger Karey Mansicalco told CNN from her cabin. ‘They are holding us hostage for absolutely no reason.’
‘On cargo plane. You cannot Imagine. Crazy or worst dream ever,’ American evacuee Gay Courter wrote on Facebook after boarding one of the flights at Tokyo International Airport.
Her husband Philip added: ‘Huge windowless B-747 cargo plane with some seats bolted in. Destination unknown at this time.’
Americans Cheryl and Paul Molesky, a couple from Syracuse, New York, opted to trade one coronavirus quarantine for another, leaving the cruise ship to fly back to the US. Cheryl Molesky said the rising number of patients on the ship factored into the decision.
‘We are glad to be going home,’ Cheryl Molesky earlier told NHK TV in Japan. ‘It’s just a little bit disappointing that we´ll have to go through quarantine again, and we will probably not be as comfortable as the Diamond Princess, possibly.’
When they eventually boarded the plane with other Americans, Cheryl said: ‘Well, we’re exhausted, but we’re on the plane and that’s a good feeling. Pretty miserable wearing these masks though, and everybody had to go to the bathroom on the bus.’
Other Americans on board the cruise ship declined to evacuate the Diamond Princess, despite being warned they will still have to wait two weeks and test negative for the virus before being allowed back to the United States.
They feared being on a long flight with other passengers who may be infected or in an incubation period.
‘My health is fine. And my two-week quarantine is almost over. Why would I want to be put on a bus and a plane with other people they think may be infected when I have spent nearly two weeks isolated from those people?’ Matt Smith, an American lawyer on the ship with his wife, tweeted.
He described a fellow American passenger standing on her balcony chanting ‘USA, USA’ as buses arrived to collect them.
‘Of course, in contravention of the rules of quarantine, she’s not wearing a face mask and she’s talking with a passenger on the adjacent balcony… And you wanted me to get on a bus with her?’
He said American officials in hazmat suits and face masks had visited his room to check if he would disembark but he said he wanted to stay.
Later, when Smith had learned 14 infected passengers were still allowed to board the flights, he tweeted: ‘OMG! US Gov’t said they would not put anyone on the planes who was symptomatic, and they ended up knowingly and intentionally putting on 14 people who actually have the virus. Decision not to be evacuated = best decision ever!’
Japanese authorities, dressed in head-to-toe protective suits, helped transport the Americans to the airport in Tokyo on a convoy of 14 buses.
Americans who evacuated the cruise ship are pictured boarding one of the two planes that took them back to the U.S.
Those Americans who chose to leave the Diamond Princess are seen in a chartered evacuation aircraft to fly back to the US
Phil Courter, a U.S. passenger on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, wears a face mask on a chartered evacuation aircraft to fly back to the United States at Haneda airport in Japan
Health officials in protective suits are seen ferrying passengers to board the evacuation flights in Tokyo
American Sarah Arana, a 52-year-old medical social worker, said there were no health checks when they passed through a makeshift passport control.
She said the US government should have acted ‘much sooner, at the beginning’.
‘I am happy and ready to go,’ Arana told AFP before leaving the ship. ‘We need a proper quarantine. This was not it.’
Across mainland China, officials said the total number of coronavirus cases rose by 2,048 to 70,548. That was slightly more new cases than were reported on Sunday, but hundreds fewer than reported on Saturday.
Chinese authorities say the stabilisation in the number of new cases is a sign that measures they have taken to halt the spread of the disease are having an effect.
However, epidemiologists say it is probably still too early to say how well the outbreak is being contained within China and its central Hubei province, where the virus first appeared.
China has responded to the COVID-19 virus by effectively locking down Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, a megacity of 11 million people.
Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak
Medical staff members treating a patient infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province
Concerns remain about the global transmission, especially on cruise ships which appear to have become especially virulent breeding grounds.
Fears are growing for passengers on the Westerdam cruise ship, who all received a clean bill of health when they disembarked in Cambodia – a staunch ally of Beijing.
An 83-year-old American woman was stopped by authorities in Malaysia over the weekend when she was detected with a fever and later diagnosed with the virus.
There were more than 2,200 passengers and crew on the ship when it docked in Sihanoukville, many of whom have now dispersed around the globe.
With tourism battered and global supply chains disrupted by the virus, experts are fretting about the toll it could take on a fragile global economy.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said there could be a cut of around 0.1-0.2 percentage points to global growth but stressed there was ‘still a great deal of uncertainty.’
Japan, one of the hardest-hit countries outside China irrespective of the Diamond Princess, suffered its biggest economic slump in more than five years – even before the coronavirus crisis. Gross domestic product in the world’s third-top economy shrank an eye-watering 1.6 percent in the three months to December – a much bigger contraction than economists had feared.
It comes after Chinese scientists revealed the deadly virus may have started life in a research facility just 300 yards from the Wuhan fish market.
A new bombshell paper from the Beijing-sponsored South China University of Technology says that the Wuhan Center for Disease Control (WHCDC) could have spawned the contagion in Hubei province.
‘The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus,’ penned by scholars Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao claims the WHCDC kept disease-ridden animals in laboratories, including 605 bats.
It also mentions that bats – which are linked to coronavirus – once attacked a researcher and ‘blood of bat was on his skin.’
The report says: ‘Genome sequences from patients were 96% or 89% identical to the Bat CoV ZC45 coronavirus originally found in Rhinolophus affinis (intermediate horseshoe bat).’