Ten more people on a quarantined cruise liner in a Japanese port have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the number of infected passengers to 20, with test results on more than 170 still pending.
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About 3700 people face at least two weeks quarantine on the Diamond Princess ship in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, after 10 people were initially confirmed with the virus and moved to medical facilities.
The total number of coronavirus patients in Japan is now 45. Test results on 171 people from the cruise ship are still pending. The 10 new cases included four Japanese, two Americans, two Canadians, one person from New Zealand and one from Taiwan.
Two Australians were among the first 10 confirmed cases on the ship.
Carnival's Diamond Princess was caught up in the global coronavirus epidemic after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man tested positive for the virus after disembarking late last month. The ship arrived in Yokohama on Monday after a 14-day round trip.
Cairns couple Paul and Jacqui Fidrmuc told AAP the situation was "frightening" and they were learning more from the media than from the cruise company.
They said their medical testing took only one minute and now it's just a matter of waiting.
Another passenger, American novelist Gay Courter, said the vessel docked in the port to take on supplies, with food delivery to rooms very slow.
"It's surprising how the ship that was turning out 5000 gourmet meals three times a day has found it difficult to deliver sandwiches and one hot meal. Where did they put the escargot and sushi?" she told Reuters.
Japan is arranging to send a fourth chartered plane to Wuhan to pick up about 200 people, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
These are likely to include Chinese spouses as well as Japanese.
The city of Naha in Okinawa Prefecture is on high alert after the ship made a port call there last Saturday, with 13 passengers leaving the ship for good and many of the rest spending the day touring the tropical island.
Many of the passengers also entered Taiwan for a one-day trip when the boat anchored at the northern port of Keelung on January 31, according to Taiwan's immigration authority, with local media saying they probably visited several popular tourist sites in Taipei.
Officials and experts in Tokyo are also worried the outbreak may have an impact on the 2020 Games starting in July.
Australian Associated Press
