Plane lands with Canadians evacuated from Japan virus ship

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — A chartered plane carrying more than 200 Canadians evacuated from the coronavirus-quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship landed at a military base in Ontario province early Friday.

All the passengers who arrived at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Ottawa, had tested negative for COVID-19, CBC reported.

They will, however, be quarantined for a further 14 days at the Nav Centre in Cornwall, Ontario, a hotel and conference center which has previously been used by the government as an emergency shelter, the national broadcaster said.

The Diamond Princess, which is moored in Yokohama near Tokyo, is the biggest coronavirus cluster outside the Chinese epicenter, with more than 600 cases confirmed among the 3,700 passengers and crew.

The ship was quarantined on February 5 when a passenger who left in Hong Kong was found infected with the virus.

Passengers were confined to cabins except for brief trips on deck wearing masks and gloves, when they were told to keep their distance from others.

Hundreds of passengers have since been allowed to disembark this week after testing negative for the deadly virus.

Of the 246 Canadians originally on board, 47 had contracted the coronavirus, CBC said, but they were not on the evacuation flight.

It was the third flight to evacuate Canadians from coronavirus quarantine, after two earlier ones from the outbreak epicenter in Wuhan, China.

More than 200 Canadians who were quarantined at CFB Trenton after arriving on the first plane from Wuhan on February 7 and a separate US charter flight are due to be released from the base Friday, CTV said.