[Diamond Princess · Live] The first charter flight takes off at 00:45

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Written by: Qiu Jingwen and Yang Kaili

2020-02-19 17:00

In Japan, the Diamond Princess cruise ship was forced to remain on the ship for quarantine due to the earlier diagnosis of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus. The quarantine period on the 14th is completed today (February 19). Chartered flights have been arranged to take about 300 Hong Kong residents who have passed the test back to Hong Kong, and passengers on board will disembark in batches. The first charter flight will take off from Tokyo's Haneda Airport at 1:45 AM (00:45 Hong Kong time) on February 20, and "Hong Kong 01" will hit the whole journey.

Reporter: Qiu Jingwen, Photojournalist: Yang Kaili hits Japan

In the evening, large tourist buses gradually entered the Heng Bin Ferry Terminal. The Director of Immigration, Zeng Guowei, was also on one of the vehicles. (Photo by Yang Kaili)

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[19:20] Immigration officials will explain the situation to the media.

[18:15] According to the Japanese media "NHK", the Diamond Princess was diagnosed with an additional 79 people today, bringing the number of confirmed diagnoses to 621, of which 68 had no fever symptoms, and another 443 people were disembarked after quarantine today. So far, 53 Hong Kong residents have been diagnosed.

[16:30] The first charter passenger is a Hong Kong resident

The Chinese Embassy in Japan issued a notice stating that, with the close coordination of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, the Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, and the relevant government departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the SAR Government will send charter flights to evacuate Chinese passengers to Hong Kong. The first charter flight will take off from Tokyo Haneda Airport at 1:45 AM (00:45 Hong Kong Time) on February 20.

The Hong Kong Government's charter flights will pick up several Macau residents. The Chinese ambassador to Japan has the title "Chinese compatriots will return to Hong Kong by charter plane". There are reports that charter flights will pick up mainlanders, but the news indicates that some media have misunderstood the title of the embassy in Japan. Charter flights will only pick up Hong Kong and Macao people. All chartered flights are Hong Kong residents.

A reporter from "Hong Kong 01" arrived at Chiba Hospital, which was diagnosed by Hong Kong people this morning, and found that the facilities were relatively rudimentary. The family members said that they had not been treated with any medication for a few days.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan announced the charter time.

Passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship stranded in Japan have ended quarantine today, and passengers have disembarked in batches since morning. The Japanese authorities first arranged for the Japanese to leave, and arranged for about 10 buses to park near the pier for people who disembarked to board at major stations. At 11:00 am local time, Japanese passengers who had completed quarantine started to disembark their luggage, and most of them left in taxis or private cars. Near cruise ships and buses, quarantine personnel wear a full set of protective clothing, but security guards outside the aisles of passengers only wear masks.

Japan ’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said earlier that virus detection samples have been collected from all passengers. If the results are negative, the ship can be disembarked without any health problems. The shipping company expects about 500 people to leave the ship today. Disembarked passengers can go straight home, but need to keep in touch with quarantine personnel.

First charter flight will take off tomorrow at 0:45

Diamond Princess has a total of 352 Hong Kong residents, of which 260 hold SAR passports and 92 hold foreign passports. The Director of Immigration, Zeng Guowei, said Tuesday (18th) that he will temporarily return Hong Kong people to Hong Kong in two flights. If necessary, he will not rule out an extra flight. The Secretary for Security Li Jiachao said this morning that the government is considering arranging a third charter flight to Japan. The first charter flight to take Hong Kong people back to Hong Kong will take off at 0:45 am Hong Kong time on Thursday (20th).

Earlier, the Secretary for Food and Health Xu Deyi said that people returning with charter flights need to be tested for new coronavirus by the Japanese authorities with negative results. They also need to be screened by the health department of Hong Kong, including body temperature and questionnaire surveys to ensure You can get on the plane without symptoms, and you need to be quarantined for 14 days after returning to Hong Kong.

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