page_title: COVID-19 pandemic on Diamond Princess
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic on Diamond Princess / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of Diamond Princess with Yokohama City shot on Mavic Mini
context_page_description: Diamond Princess is a cruise ship registered in Britain, and owned and operated by Princess Cruises. During a cruise that began on 20 January 2020, positive cases of COVID-19 linked to the COVID-19 pandemic were confirmed on the ship in February 2020. Over 700 people out of 3,711 became infected, and 14 people, all of them passengers, died. At the time, the ship accounted for over half the reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 outside of mainland China.
context_section_description: The fateful cruise of the Diamond Princess departed from the Port of Yokohama on 20 January 2020 for a round-trip billed as a tour of Southeast Asia during the Lunar New Year period, with 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew on board.
  An 80-year-old passenger from Hong Kong, China, had embarked in Yokohama on 20 January. He had been in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China on 10 January, then returned to Hong Kong and flew to Tokyo on 17 January to board the ship. He developed a cough on 19 January, but he went on board. He left the cruise when the ship reached Hong Kong on 25 January.
  The cruise continued. On 31 January, the ship docked in Taiwan, which according to Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai was "the earliest country to activate epidemic prevention measures against this disease." A paper in the Journal of Medical Internet Research authored by Chen, describes how the passengers of the COVID-19 stricken cruise ship were later traced using mobile phone geolocation, and how their 627,386 contacts were alerted through textmessaging.
  On 1 February, the ship called at Naha Port in Okinawa and was quarantined. On the same day, the 80-year-old man who disembarked in Hong Kong six days earlier tested positive for COVID-19. Having a fever, he went to the hospital and got tested.Hong Kong's Department of Health immediately contacted the agent of the ship's operating company, but the ship did not immediately inform the passengers and they were notified about that on 3 February, two days later.
  Over the next few days, the cruise ship had shows and dance parties as usual and also continued to open public facilities that attract large crowds, including fitness clubs, theatres, casinos, bars and buffet-style restaurants.
  On the evening of 3 February, the cruise ship returned to Yokohama Port and anchored off the coast of Daikoku Pier without docking. 
  The Japanese government decided to re-quarantine the ship unusually because there may be infected persons. 
  Officials of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare boarded the ship for quarantine.
  On 4 February, tests revealed infections of 10 out of 31 people tested. The authorities immediately decided to isolate all passengers on board for 14 days. On 5 February, the authorities announced positive test results for SARS-CoV-2 for ten people on board, the cancellation of the cruise, and that the ship was entering quarantine for 14 days based on World Health Organization guidelines. 
  A total of 3,700 passengers and crew were quarantined by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for what was expected to be a 14-day period, off Yokohama. 
  On 7 February, the total number of people on board with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections grew to 61. 
  Another 3 cases were detected on 8 February, bringing the total to 64. 
  On 9 February, 6 cases were detected, while another 65 were detected on 10 February, bringing the total to 135. 
  The numbers overwhelmed local medical facilities, and stricken passengers were divided into 3 groups according to condition, and evacuated to suitable locations, allowing intensive care to perform as intended.
  On 11 February, 39 more people tested positive for the virus, including one quarantine officer, bringing the total to 174. 
  Passengers with confirmed cases were reported to be taken ashore for treatment. 
  On 13 February, 44 more people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 218. 
  On 15 February 67 more people were reported to be infected, bringing the total to 285. 
  On 16 February 70 more people were reported to be infected, bringing the total to 355. 
  The next day on 17 February, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare confirmed 99 more cases, raising the total to 454, 33 of whom were crew members. 
  On 18 February, another 88 cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 542. 
  On the morning of 17 February (Japan time), two U.S. government-chartered planes departed for the United States, carrying hundreds of U.S. citizens who were passengers of the cruise ship. Among about 400 cruise passengers, 328 boarded the planes, excluding those who expressed t
caption: Diamond Princess undergoing a cleaning and disinfection process at Daikoku Pier in Yokohama Port photographed on 1 March 2020
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