Tokyo, 4 February, /AJMEDIA/
Former passengers of the Diamond Princess liner laid flowers Monday at Yokohama port in remembrance of the 13 people who died following the mass COVID-19 outbreak onboard five years ago.
The outbreak of infections on the ship in February 2020 led to thousands being quarantined after it docked at the port near Tokyo. Japan stopped accepting foreign cruise ships the following month for the next three years.
The government was criticized for forcing passengers to remain on board for a long time despite the limited medical facilities. Authorities also faced difficulties finding medical facilities for patients as the number of infections swelled.
Passengers infected with the disease started disembarking on Feb 14 after the ship’s Feb 3 arrival, with most others starting to leave Feb 19 and the process only completed on March 1.
The ship’s lack of strict quarantine measures such as confining passengers to their cabins immediately after the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed is also believed to have contributed to the spread of infections.
In the memorial event, a board inscribed with the words “Never let such a tragedy happen again” was displayed, with the dates of the deceased’s hospitalizations and deaths read out.
Ryohei Nakata, who was among those infected onboard together with his wife, has attended the memorial every year. “Such a terrible disaster must never happen again. A proper investigation is necessary,” the 78-year-old said.
A nationwide association of former passengers continues to urge the government to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident, including interviewing passengers and crew.
Tadashi Chida, an 81-year-old former passenger from Sapporo and joint head of the association, expressed concerns that the incident was fading from public memory.
“Five years have passed, and I fear it will be forgotten. We need to reconsider how we should reflect on this mass outbreak,” he said.
The Diamond Princess departed Yokohama on Jan 20, 2020, with a passenger who had disembarked in Hong Kong testing positive for COVID-19 on Feb 1. Of the 3,711 passengers and crew on board, 712 became infected and 13 died, with an additional fatality occurring after a passenger returned home to Australia.
