Passengers wound up as coronavirus cases rise on quarantined cruise ship

Thousands of people have been trapped on a cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, since February 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

More than 3,700 passengers and crew members have been quarantined, not docked, simply floating nearby dryland, where ambulances and health officers in hazmat suits are ready to wheel off the infected patients for treatment.

By Monday 60 more confirmed cases were discovered, bringing the total to 130, according to local media, citing Japanese health ministry sources.

Quarantined passengers took to social media to express their restlessness and the depression over their confinement.

“Lots of the passengers now are getting cabin fever I guess is what you’d call it, depression is starting to set it in,” 74-year-old Brit David Abel posted on Facebook.

Passengers are allotted time periods where they can leave their cabins and go on deck in shifts for fresh air.

Twitter user Yardley Wong posted a video of her son restlessly walking around the deck of the cruise ship wearing a mask, and when she asked him if it was nice to get some fresh air, he replied that he can’t breathe because of the mask.

Wong also tweeted asking how to help her mother who told her that she gets depressed in the middle of the night.

Some have tried to take it with a pinch of humor.

Twitter user Karey Maniscalco posted a video of herself binding sheets into a makeshift rope and throwing it overboard as an attempt to “escape”.

She also tweeted at US President Donald Trump asking for his help to get her home.

China’s new coronavirus epidemic has claimed more than 910 lives and infected more than 40,170 people across the world.

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