A Japanese infectious diseases expert has made waves with videos slamming the government’s handling of a quarantined cruise ship, racking up hundreds of thousands of views as passengers start to leave the boat.
The situation on the Diamond Princess was “completely chaotic” and violated quarantine procedures, said Kentaro Iwata, a professor at Kobe University, in unvarnished criticism rarely seen in Japanese officialdom or academia.
Iwata posted a video in English, “The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of infection control”.
He said that he was so concerned at what he saw on the ship during a brief visit on Tuesday that he has placed himself in a 14-day quarantine to avoid infecting his family.
“There was no distinction between the green zone, which is free of infection, and the red zone, which is potentially contaminated by the virus,” he added.
More than 540 people on board have tested positive for the virus since the vessel arrived off Japan’s coast on February 3.
On Monday, an additional 99 people have tested positive for coronavirus on a cruise ship off the Japan coast, Japanese media citing new figures from the health ministry, making the total number of positive cases on the Diamond Princess to 454.
The US was the first country to evacuate its citizens from the ship but Australia, Canada, Italy, and Hong Kong have indicated they will follow suit. On land, cases in Japan have risen to 65, with authorities warning that the outbreak is entering a “new phase” and advising people to avoid large gatherings.
In mainland China, where the virus first emerged, more than 2,000 people have been killed and 74,000 infected.
Hong Kong has confirmed the virus in 62 patients, two of whom have died. The first infections were largely found within people who had travelled to the epicentre in China’s central Hubei province.
Meanwhile, the director of a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, is among those who died on Tuesday. Zhiming, a neurosurgeon, is the first hospital head to die of the Coronavirus infection.
Authorities have placed about 56 million people in hard-hit central Hubei under an unprecedented lockdown. Other cities far from the epicentre have restricted the movements of residents, while Beijing ordered people arriving in the capital to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine.
(With inputs from agency)