Everyone is worried about the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19 as it’s now officially called, and governments are doing all they can to contain the spread of the disease.
If it means quarantining one whole cruise ship if even one passenger tests positive for the disease, then so be it.
Which is all very reasonable but still sucks if you’re on the wrong end of the quarantine in what was supposed to be a relaxing holiday trip.
Jan and Dave Binskin are an Australian couple who are stuck inside the Diamond Princess cruise ship after 169 people on board tested positive for Covid-19. The Binskins, from Queensland, has been stuck for more than a week along with roughly 3,700 passengers and crew members in Yokohama port.
But the couple has decided to make the best of a bad situation by sharing updates on social media about their time aboard the ship, all while wearing face masks, of course. But they took things to the next level by enjoying some win, delivered fresh thanks to drones.
They wrote on one post: “Naked Wine Club you’re incredible just got the first drop. Thank god for drones, the Japanese Coast Guard did not know what the f*** was going on.”
The next pic showed a smiling Dave with his mask pulled down happily holding up a wine glass with the caption: “Happy Hour Drone Wine.”
A series of pictures featuring more wine bottles showed that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
But a February update by the couple showed how grim the situation is: “Not good news. Another 61 cases confirmed, now 130 in total. It’s like Russian roulette – hope we don’t draw the loaded gun.”
In another post, they said: “Further to my posts today Captain just announced another 38 people are positive… s**t.”
At the time of writing, John Hopkins University estimates that there have been 1,118 deaths and 45,206 confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide and those numbers are sure to rise.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato announced that the Diamond Princess passengers would need to stay aboard the ship while testing goes on.
He said: “I want to take sufficient care of the health of passengers and crew and make every effort to prevent the spread of the virus.
“We had them [the ones who tested positive] get off the vessel and… we are sending them to medical organizations.”
David Abel, a British passenger on board the ship, said in a Facebook video: “We are now officially in quarantine. It appears that our quarantine is onboard the ship, that we will not be taken off to a hospital.
“The 10 people that are affected, they are being taken off very soon by the local coastguard into a medical facility. We are to remain on board the ship and we are confined to our cabins.
“Nobody is able to book onward flights as we have no idea when the quarantine will clear.
“The whole ship is in quarantine, we are in the middle of the bay, anchored, so nobody can get on or off this ship.
“Staff are constantly cleaning and sanitizing public areas such as handrails and door handles. Passengers are requested not to use public toilets unless in an emergency.”
Replaced!