Coronavirus quarantine finally ends for Australians on Diamond Princess, but isolation in Darwin awaits

Updated 20 Feb 2020, 4:56amThu 20 Feb 2020, 4:56am

Photo: Buses were lined up on the Yokohama dock to take the Australians to the airport so they could be evacuated to Darwin. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)

About 180 Australians have finally left the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan after a 14-day quarantine to contain a coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak that infected at least 621 passengers and crew members.

They departed Japan in the early hours of Thursday morning on an Australian Government-chartered evacuation flight headed for Darwin, where they will spend a further 14 days in isolation at the Howard Springs facility.

Some Australians have opted to stay in Japan to take care of loved ones who have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Among them was Melbourne woman Aun Na Tan, who discovered just hours before the flight was due to depart that her daughter Kaitlyn had tested positive.

"We will not be taking the flight tonight. Our family will stay together," she tweeted.

In a subsequent Instagram post, Ms Tan detailed the process which led to her daughter's diagnosis and the family's quarantine.

"Our test results all came back negative except for Kaitlyn's which was positive," she posted.

"As a minor, they asked for at least one adult to remain. We decided not to be separated. They are trying to find a hospital which will take all four of us.

"Kaitlyn will need to be isolated as she is positive. The rest of us needs to start quarantine again in the hospital to ensure we didn't get anything from Kaitlyn."

The Diamond Princess was put in lockdown with 3,700 people on board after a passenger tested positive for the virus five days after he disembarked from the ship.

Passengers were ordered to stay inside their cabins during the quarantine period, but were allowed on deck for a short period every few days as long as they wore a mask and kept their distance from others.

Thirty-six Australians were among those who caught coronavirus and were taken to isolation wards in hospitals across to Japan.

Photo: Those evacuated will spend a second stint in quarantine in Darwin. (ABC: Jake Sturmer)

Vera Koslova-Fu from Melbourne was confined to a windowless cabin for two weeks.

She was not thrilled to learn that she and other Australians would be bunkering down at the quarantine centre outside Darwin.

"Am I happy that I am going to be going to another 14 days of quarantine? Absolutely not. But I am happy I'm going to be on Australian soil," she said.

Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said the second stint in quarantine in Darwin was crucial because there had been growing numbers of infections on the ship.

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Ms Koslova-Fu had considered declining Australia's offer to evacuate, but there was just too much uncertainty.

"The thought of travelling around Japan or flying around to other countries was something we thought about," she said.

"But if Australia decides that the pandemic is getting worse [and we're] going to have to stay away, then we are basically stuffed."

Ms Koslova-Fu said her main priority was getting off the Diamond Princess.

"Whether it be crew or whether it be us, we all want off this damn ship," she said.

"Not because they've mistreated us or anything like that. It's just this horrid ordeal and we just want to get off."

Photo: Australian passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship board a Qantas flight. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)

'This is the longest we've ever been apart'

Paul and Coralie Williamson from the Sunshine Coast had accepted the Government's offer to be taken to Darwin for further quarantine.

Photo: Coralie Williamson will go to Darwin alone after her husband Paul was diagnosed with coronavirus a day before the Diamond Princess quarantine was due to end. (Supplied: Paul Williamson)

But on Tuesday, they learned that Mr Williamson had tested positive for coronavirus.

He will remain in Japan for treatment and Mrs Williamson will make the journey to Darwin alone.

"My eyes are very small because I've been crying. I'm not good," she told the ABC from her cabin.

"I'm an emotional girl. Highs and lows. This will be the longest we've ever been apart."

Photo: Paul and Coralie Williamson were distraught to learn that they'd be separated for two weeks after he was diagnosed with coronavirus. (Facebook: Paul Williamson)

Mr Williamson has not shown any symptoms of the virus and has reassured his wife that he would be fine.

"We're just taking it a step at a time and we'll go from there," he said.

The couple has vowed to stay in touch as much as possible over the next two weeks, although Mrs Williamson said she expects their separation to be tough.

"Most of the time I'll probably just stay in my pyjamas and go under the covers," she said.

Japan defends handling of cruise ship crisis

Japanese authorities spent the day taking 443 people off the ship and loading them onto waiting buses and taxis.

Photo: Thousands of people have been disembarking the Diamond Princess after the mandatory 14-day quarantine ended. (Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha)

Test samples have now been collected from all passengers.

Those who have been in close contact with infected people will be kept on board the ship for the time being, even though they have tested negative for coronavirus.

Passengers who have spent weeks on board the ship said they were overjoyed to finally be free.

Canada, Israel, Italy, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong have all arranged flights to get their citizens home.

Japan's Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said there was no need to further isolate the passengers who disembarked the ship.

"The National Institute of Infectious Diseases has indicated they can use public transportation as long as they were monitored for 14 days, tested negative to the virus and were confirmed to be in good health," he said.

Japan has defended its decision to quarantine everyone on board the ship, rather than putting them into isolation wards in hospitals.

"The government has given utmost consideration for protecting the health of passengers and crew," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

About 1,000 crew members will remain on the ship until the last quarantined passengers are free to leave.

Many passengers left thank-you notes for the crew, who have been delivering food and cleaning up the ship during the quarantine period.

Photo: The Australian Tan family left this card for the Diamond Princess crew in their room to thank them for their help during quarantine. (Supplied: Aun Na Tan)

Topics: tourism, travel-and-tourism, diseases-and-disorders, health, japan

First posted 19 Feb 2020, 1:25pmWed 19 Feb 2020, 1:25pm