Two Taiwanese who contracted COVID-19 while onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship were yesterday released from a Tokyo hospital after testing negative for the disease.
The man and woman were brought to the Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital on the evening of Feb. 15, the man said, adding that the two of them were released after two successive tests turned up negative.
The 85-year-old father of the male passenger, who was also aboard the Diamond Princess, is being treated in another hospital in the Kansai region after he coughed up blood while still in quarantine on the ship.
After being released from the hospital yesterday, the man said that he would travel by train to Kansai to wait there for his father to be released from the hospital.
He has spoken frequently with his father by telephone while they were both hospitalized, he added.
“The hospital has taken great care of my father. He’s in a room by himself and has a nurse assigned to him only,” the man said.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan has also provided assistance and sent vitamins to the hospital for his father, he said.
His father was recovering well and has been taken off medication for his cough, but would need to undergo more tests before being discharged, he said.
Speaking about his own experience of being hospitalized in Tokyo, the man said that he was in a regular hospital ward and did not need to be in a negative-pressure isolation room.
The hospital staff were very friendly and left him an encouraging note at his bedside, he said, adding that the Taiwanese representative office sent him books and a notepad.
“The hospital was different from what I imagined after seeing the news and it was not easy being in quarantine — for example, breakfast often consisted of little more than toast and showers had to be scheduled,” he said. “It was a humbling experience.”
Friends sent him a network card to get online, as well as coffee and snacks, making the 11 days in quarantine more bearable, he said.
A total of five Taiwanese passengers from the cruise ship were hospitalized with infections and three remain in hospital, officials said.
A Hong Konger, a Canadian, a Briton and two Americans were also discharged after testing negative for the virus, officials said.
Although some details remain unclear, such as how the five Taiwanese are to be transported back to Taiwan and whether they would be placed under quarantine on their return — the man said that he would fully cooperate with whatever measures are necessary.
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