Evacuation of Canadians in process from quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship

#Coronavirus; #Canada; #DiamondPrincess

Ottawa, Feb 16 (Canadian-Media):  The evacuation of Canadian nationals from Japan's quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship is in process, as  many passengers on the ship were infected by coronavirus, media reports said. 

Coronavirus. Image credit: Twitter handle

 The cruise liner has been quarantined near Yokohama since Feb 3, after a passenger who left the vessel in Hong Kong tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The aircraft chartered by the Government of Canada will bring Canadian passengers from Japan to Canadian Forces Base Trenton to be transported to the NAV Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ontario, to undergo a further 14-day period of quarantine.

​The Canadian passengers who were already affected by the virus will not be evacuated.

Out of 3,711 passengers and crew aboard the vessel, so far, 355 people have tested positive for the virus. 

The new strain of coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December has since spread to more than 25 countries. The virus in China has already resulted in 1665 fatalities, with 68,500 people having been infected. More than 500 people were infected with virus outside of China, including two cases in Russia.