Shipbuilding and maritime related news from the Central Gulf Coast region
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Update: Cruise ships & virus
The World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a new label - COVID-19 - on Feb. 11. It’s short for coronavirus disease 2019, because the illness was first detected tat the end of last year. The organization’s leader said the name did not refer to any people, places or animals associated with the virus in an effort to avoid stigma. Chinese officials said Feb. 12 that even as the death toll continued to rise, the infection rate has shown signs of slowing. Here are the latest updates and maps of where the virus has spread. But, public health experts are skeptical that China’s isolation of thousands of patients will contain the virus and worried those makeshift shelters for housing those with the illness pose additional risks. (NY Times 02/12/20) Shipping/Maritime Note: 174 Carnival Corporation's Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers tested positive for coronavirus on Feb. 12. The cruise ship has been quarantined in the Yokohama, Japan port since Feb. 4 with 3,711 people aboard. Princess Cruises, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp., said they are working with the Japanese health ministry to disembark infected cruisers. 32 passengers are U.S. citizens. Another Carnival ship, Holland America Line’s Westerdam, which departed Hong Kong Feb. 1 with 2,257 people on board, has been floating at sea since Feb. 6, when Japan turned the ship away. The Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Guam have barred the ship from docking. Cambodia said Feb. 12 the ship will be allowed to dock in Sihanoukville on Feb. 13, and passengers allowed to disembark and travel home. (Source: Miami Herald 02/12/20) UPDATE: 14 Americans, who were evacuated from the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan Feb, 17 were found to have the new coronavirus shortly before they boarded a chartered flight to the U.S. American officials had initially said they wouldn’t allow infected people to board those flights from the ship, which has been quarantined for more than 10 days. The infected passengers were placed in a specialized isolation area of the plane, and all passengers will be quarantined upon reaching the U.S. Additionally, more than 1,000 passengers left another cruise ship in Cambodia over the weekend after assurances that the vessel was disease free. One of them later tested positive, leaving health officials scrambling to assess the scale of the problem. (NY Times 02/07/20)
