Japan Confirms 78 More Coronavirus Cases, Including Dozens on Cruise Ship

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Saturday that some 78 patients tested positive for the new coronavirus, including 67 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that’s docked in Yokohama.

The new cases on the ship bring the total among passengers to 285.

The patients who test positive are taken to hospitals.

Authorities let 11 passengers disembark on Friday, moving them to a quarantine facility on shore. The move was announced for passengers 81 or older and those with underlying medical conditions, or who were in cabins on the inside of the ship without windows.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo told American passengers and crew that a State Department-charted flight would arrive late Sunday.

“Should you choose not to return on this charter flight, you will be unable to return to the United States for a period of time,” the embassy told Americans in an email. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make a final determination on this matter.”

People who choose to get on the evacuation flight have to stay in quarantine in the United States for two weeks. Five flights carrying evacuees from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, have landed in the United States in recent weeks, and hundreds of people remain in isolation in Texas, Nebraska, and California.

Fifteen patients have tested positive for the new virus in the United States.

David Adams

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