Forty-four more people have tested positive for thecoronavirusaboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, Princess Cruises confirmed to PEOPLE Thursday.
The total number of cases on the ship, which has 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members on board, is now at 219, according toCNNand theWashington Post.
Last Wednesday, Princess Cruises confirmed to PEOPLE that 20 passengers had tested positive for the illness,including three Americans. The remaining people affected included seven people from Japan, three from Hong Kong, two from Australia, two from Canada, one from New Zealand, one from Taiwan and one from the Philippines.
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The cruise ship remains quarantined in the port of Yokohama.
Thus far, there have been13 confirmed casesof the coronavirus in the U.S., seven of which are in California. The other five cases have been found in Seattle; Phoenix; Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago and Boston.
However, the CDC emphasizes that Americans should not panic, saying that the risk of contracting coronavirus is still “low,” with the relatively few cases in the U.S.
Worldwide, there are now43,141 confirmed casesof this new coronavirus, with the majority — 42,670 — occurring in mainland China. As of Feb. 11, 1,018 people have died from the respiratory illness. Most deaths occurred in people over 60 with preexisting conditions, and all but two were in mainland China.
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Coronavirus is a blanket term for several respiratory illnesses, ranging from the common cold to more severe viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Symptoms typically include fever, cough, trouble breathing, headache and sore throat. For people who have severe cases, it can turn into pneumonia, SARS, kidney failure and death, according to theWorld Health Organization.
A significant number of people are recovering from this coronavirus, as well. Chinese officials said that 262 people left the hospital on Feb. 4. In the U.S., the man who had the first confirmed case of coronavirusalso went home.
source: people.com
