Multiple Details Exposure: Diamond Princess He Yicheng Infected Bin?

Newspaper reporter Gao Jianghong

Intern Li Junjie, Beijing

Since its isolation in February 4th, passengers and crew members have been diagnosed on the diamond princess. As of 18:30 local time 20, 2666 passengers and 1045 crew members on board confirmed that the number of new coronavirus pneumonia cases has risen to 621. According to the latest news released by Japan's Ministry of health and labour, 542 infected persons were identified from 25 countries 19 days ago, with the largest number of Japanese and 247 people. The number of confirmed Chinese compatriots was 47, of which 44 were from Hongkong, China, 2 from mainland China, and 1 from Taiwan, China.

The latest news is that a new coronavirus infection on the diamond princess cruise ship has killed two people, all over the age of 80.

How did the diamond princess become a terrorist cruise step by step from the original cruise ship? A large number of experts were interviewed on the ship's staff, passengers, and infectious disease experts aboard the ship, and the process of the spread of the cruise epidemic was restored. Cheng Juehao, Secretary General of the Asian cruise Academy of Shanghai Maritime Univeristy and member of the China Cruise development expert committee, said that the existing cruise design was unable to isolate the virus and caused serious epidemics.

For the safety of passengers, the cruise industry should make changes within the acceptable cost range. Gan Jun photo

Happy cruise turns terror Cruise

Wang Yang is a member of the 1045 crew members of the diamond princess cruise ship. Because his colleague had a temporary accident, Wang Yang had to finish his trip ahead of time. He took the high-speed rail to Shenzhen on the thirty day of the new year, and arrived in Hongkong West Kowloon on the second day. He boarded the car and boarded the boat. On the same day, the first Hongkong guest to be infected with the new crown virus pneumonia was released.

The infected Hongkong guest boarded the boat in Yokohama in January 20th and disembarked in Hongkong in January 25th. He went to a local hospital in Hongkong 6 days after he left the ship. In February 1st, he was diagnosed with a new coronavirus pneumonia.

In February 4th, the cruise company decided to cancel the next voyage of the diamond princess, so that the Japanese Ministry of health quarantine officers embarked on a thorough inspection of the health condition of the passengers and crew on the diamond princess. Of the 133 samples tested in the first batch, 10 tested positive for coronavirus. This includes 3 Australian guests, 3 Japanese guests, 3 Chinese Hongkong guests and 1 American guests, and 1 Philippines crew members. The confirmed passengers and crew were taken to the hospital for treatment, while others needed 14 days of quarantine on board.

In February 20th, Wang Yang talked to reporters in the twenty-first Century economic report. During the inspection period, the crew worked every day, but most of the staff had changed their working nature, such as casinos, duty-free shops, sales, spa and other sectors of the crew became couriers or stairs guide.

In February 8th, the isolation of the diamond princess cruise ship in Yokohama harbor has entered the fifth day. In the face of the increasing diagnostic data, it is thought that we should face at least 10 days of isolation. Many passengers have become depressed and irritable. They cried out on the social platform, "the cruise ship has been jails", and the American passenger video recorded to the president of the United States: "Trump, help us!"

However, the number of infections continues to grow.

In February 16th, 70 new people were diagnosed on the "Diamond Princess" cruise. Up to now, 355 people have been infected with the new coronavirus pneumonia. A 74 year old British grandfather, David Abel, attracted many people's attention during his stay in Facebook during the isolation of the David Abel. He posted a post on Facebook, saying: "it is now at 9 pm on February 16th. American passengers are now off the ship. They can go home by air, and they will feel comfortable after returning home. 36 hours later, Canadians are going home too. Hongkong, China is also organizing the withdrawal of citizens. The government of Italy announced that the people of their country should be brought home. South Koreans are organizing the evacuation of overseas Chinese. This is the latest news.

On February 18th, the Ministry of health and labour of Japan said that about 500 people would leave the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship on the 19 day, and the passengers on board should meet the conditions that the test results were negative and did not have close contact with the patients. The crew will be quarantined for 14 days after all the passengers on board have been disembarked. Some passengers will remain on board and wait for their country to send planes to evacuate overseas Chinese. Japan's Ministry of health and labour also said that all samples of the diamond princess used for testing new crown pneumonia were collected and the results could be released on 19 days. Those with negative results are expected to get off the boat on schedule 21.

At 11 a.m. local time on February 19th, 14 days after being quarantined, the passengers on the cruise ship "Diamond Princess" stopped at Yokohama harbor in Japan. In the 19 day of the examination results, another 79 people were diagnosed. The Hongkong Special Administrative Region and Australia also returned to Hongkong residents and Australians on the 19 day.

That is to say, from the discovery of the first passenger infected with new coronavirus pneumonia, the Diamond Princess infected 621 people in 20 days, accounting for 16.7% of the total number of passengers and crew on board 3711, which is astonishing compared with the infection rate in other areas.

Behind the increasing number of infections

Why does the diamond princess become such a terrible infection?

A confession of Iwata Kentaro, a professor of infectious diseases at Kobe University in Japan, who launched the "Diamond Princess" cruise in February 18th, may reveal some secrets. A video released by Iwata Kentaro on social media in Japan in February 19th has attracted worldwide attention. In the video, Iwata Kentaro rebuked the epidemic prevention management on the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship. He said, "I am scared from the bottom of my heart!"

Iwata Kentaro introduced in the video that he boarded the "Diamond Princess" cruise to carry out epidemic prevention work in February 18th and was ordered to leave the boat by the Ministry of health and labour at about five o'clock that evening. At present, he is isolated in a room, and his family is not being seen.

Iwata Kentaro has worked in infectious diseases for more than 20 years, and has faced many infectious diseases such as Ebola virus in Africa and SARS in China. Many times he felt the danger in his work, but he did not worry too much about his infection. Because as a professional, he knows how to prevent himself and others from getting infected with Ebola and SARS, and knows how to manage epidemic prevention facilities in order to avoid infection. But he said, "this time I really feel that I am helpless, and I want to catch a new coronavirus pneumonia."

There is an iron rule in the field of infectious diseases, that is, the red and green areas should be clearly identified in the epidemic management. The so-called green area is a safe area without virus, and no special measures are needed. The so-called red area is likely to have a dangerous area of virus, and wear protective clothing in this area. Iwata Kentaro said: "only by such a strict distinction can we protect ourselves from viruses. If we can not guarantee our own safety, we can not guarantee the safety of others. "

Iwata Kentaro revealed that he saw that the red diamond and green area had mixed up on the ship. The ship had no idea which armrest or a blanket had a virus. It is totally unknown where danger and danger are. Protective measures such as protective clothing and gloves are meaningless if the safety zone and the non safe area are not divided.

Iwata Kentaro also pointed out that the protection consciousness of the crew members is not enough. Sometimes they wear protective clothing, gloves, and masks, sometimes without wearing or wearing them. The conductor will wear N95 for a while and pick it up again. "When we go to this epidemic prevention work, the first premise is to protect ourselves effectively. Regardless of the risk of being infected, it is unreasonable to contact the patients and other ordinary people again. It is completely against the rules. " Iwata Kentaro road.

Iwata Kentaro also revealed that it is common for a patient on the ship to have fever symptoms to walk from his room to the clinic. Iwata Kentaro and the researchers walked on the boat and suddenly faced a patient with a mistake. The researchers also smiled and said to Iwata Kentaro, "Yo, what a mistake has just passed is a patient."

Iwata Kentaro also showed concern about cross infection in Japanese hospitals in the video. He said that the disaster dispatched medical team (DMAT) is now at risk of being infected at any time, and there is clearly a way to prevent it, but because of different specialities, they have no idea. They are all medical personnel. When they finish their work on the ship, they will return to work in their own hospital. At that time, they may also cause nosocomial infections. "This is a very fatal thing." Iwata Kentaro said, "our infection prevention is far less than that of Africa and China. Sierra Leone is much stronger than us. Although we have no centers for Disease Control and prevention in Japan, I did not expect to be able to do so. I thought there would be experts coming into the field, taking responsibility, assuming leadership and setting the regulations for infection prevention. But there is no such thing at all. " But his views were not heard by the Ministry of health and labour in Japan, and he was very helpless.

Iwata Kentaro's video provides a new perspective for understanding the increasing number of infected people on the diamond princess cruise ship. Previously, the closeness of the cruise environment and the central air conditioning and ventilation system were the key factors that led to the rapid development of cruise epidemic. However, an open letter issued by the US National Center for disease control to cruise passengers said there was no evidence that the virus could spread through the air handling system in the cabin.

On the 18 day, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Jian Yiwei acknowledged at the press conference that the government's response to the "Diamond Princess" cruise is "good and bad." Then, at a press conference on the 19 day, Kan Yi Wei further responded that the government had taken all measures to prevent the expansion of the epidemic. Kan Yi Wei said that every crew member was asked to wear masks, wash hands and sterilize alcohol to prevent infection. In addition, Kan Yi Wei also stressed that senior officials of the government "humbly listen to different criticisms".

In February 20th, Iwata Kentaro deleted the video he released and said on his personal Twitter, "there is no need for further discussion. Thank you. I am sorry for the people involved."

He later talked about why he denied the pressure of any individual or organization when he deleted the video. He just stressed the need to continue discussing this topic and was sorry for causing a lot of trouble. However, Professor Iwata also stressed that he will not change his viewpoint and position in the video.

But Cheng Juehao, Secretary General of the Asian cruise Academy of Shanghai Maritime Univeristy and member of the China Cruise development expert committee, disagreed with the conclusions of the US National Center for disease control. In the interview, Cheng Juehao said he thought the infection spread on the cruise was related to the air conditioning system and gave two bases.

First, the air conditioning system on the cruise ship is divided into different areas, and the air between different areas is not mixed with each other. But in the same area, the air conditioning and ventilation system suck all the air in all rooms and spaces, and then centrally process them, and then enter all the rooms and spaces. This means that there may be air intersections between different rooms, especially the rooms with virus. New coronavirus can be transmitted through air, so cross infection is easy to occur in such an environment. Secondly, according to the latest international standards, the finest particles in the air conditioning filter on the cruise ship are about 0.3 microns, and the new coronavirus is only 0.1 microns, which is much smaller than the standard. So the air conditioning on the cruise ship can not filter out the virus, and the virus can be easily transmitted through the air conditioning system in the same area.

Cheng Juehao believes that the existing cruise ventilation system is flawed, so cruise design should be modified to avoid such risks. "The practice of separate ventilation in each room is practicable." Cheng Juehao said he consulted the relevant experts and learned that each room was individually ventilated on the ocean engineering, so he appealed to the international cruise organization to incorporate it into the shipbuilding specification. Cheng Juehao also said that the solution can be applied, that is, the cost. But for passenger safety, within the acceptable cost range, the cruise industry should make changes.