Diamond Princess Passengers Begin to Leave The Ship After 2 Weeks’ Quarantine

Cruise passengers aboard the fated Diamond Princess cruise ship finally began to disembark from the ship today, after practically 2 weeks quarantine amid a serious coronavirus outbreak aboard the vessel.

Reuters.com reports that about 500 people disembarked from the ship Wednesday, the last day of the original quarantine period which began on February 3. During that time authorities reported over 540 cases of the virus among Diamond Princess passengers and crew.  The infection rate among those quarantined aboard the ship was significantly higher than would be expected, with greater than in seven people aboard the ship falling ill with the virus.

Yesterday the United States evacuated over 300 nationals from the Diamond Princess. 14 of them later tested positive for the virus. U.S. officials are taking the evacuated passengers to a secure facility where they will face further quarantine. 

Despite the large number of coronavirus cases reported among the Diamond Princess passengers, authorities have not reported any fatalities.