TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2020) The Westerdam cruise ship, which had been heading to Japan from Hong Kong, canceled a scheduled port call after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced plans to refuse entry to foreign nationals aboard the vessel due to a suspected case of coronavirus there, media reported on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, media reported, citing the Japanese prime minister, that the ban would apply to all other similar cases and would be effective beginning on Friday.
According to the Kyodo news agency, initially, the vessel was supposed to arrive at Ishigaki Island in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture via Taiwan in the coming days but canceled the plans after Abe's remarks.
Meanwhile, another cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, was quarantined off the Japanese port of Yokohama on Monday after reports said that one of the passengers was infected with the new type of coronavirus. Among the 3,700 passengers and crew from 56 countries, at least 20 have reportedly tested positive for the new coronavirus, with the results for over 170 people still pending.
The current death toll from the coronavirus has already exceeded 560 people, and over 28,000 others have been infected all over the world since it was first detected in December.
