Five Macau residents to be evacuated from cruise

A total of five Macau residents are expected to be evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship stranded in Yokohama, Japan, with the assistance of the Hong Kong government, the Macau local government has confirmed.
The news was announced yesterday morning by the Macau SAR Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center on its social media page.
On Monday, the Hong Kong government decided to charter at least one flight to Japan to evacuate approximately 330 Hong Kong residents currently undergoing quarantine on the vessel.
However, the plan did not sit well with all cruise ship passengers. According to Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK, the government in the neighboring SAR has admitted that some of the Hong Kongers aboard the ship have indicated that they do not wish to take the chartered flights back to Hong Kong.
Twenty-one out of the 330 Hong Kong residents have been confirmed to be infected by Covid-19. As for Macau residents, none of the five have been infected according to the latest announcement from the Center. It has not been disclosed whether infected Hong Kong residents will remain in Japan for treatment.
An earlier report said the cruise ship, which is anchored off the coast of Japan, was put on a two-week quarantine that is due to end on February 19. With that said, the first evacuation flight to Hong Kong should be expected to depart for Hong Kong this Wednesday.
Meanwhile, according to the Center, after achieving consensus with the five Macau residents, two male and three female of ages between 24 and 82, onboard the ship, it contacted the Hong Kong government for collaboration.
To conduct prior preparation, officers from the Health Bureau and the Tourism Crisis Management Office departed for Japan on Monday evening.
Two out of the five are residents of both SARs and decided to remain in Hong Kong when evacuated. The other three will return to Macau by vehicles arranged by the Hong Kong government. The three will undergo medical observation at a location designated by the Health Bureau.
Before boarding the flight, all will be tested for infection one final time.
The latest information showed that an additional 99 people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship have tested positive for the Covid-19, bringing the total of onboard infections to 454, according to reports from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. AL