Relieved passengers began leaving a coronavirus-wracked cruise ship in Japan on Wednesday after testing negative for the disease that has now claimed more than 2,000 lives in China.
The Diamond Princess has proved a fertile breeding ground for the virus with at least 542 positive cases, and there is mounting criticism of Japan's handling of quarantine arrangements as passengers ready to disperse into the wider world.
The ship is the biggest cluster outside China, where new figures showed the death toll surging beyond 2,000 with more than 74,000 infected. Hundreds more cases have been reported in two dozen countries.
For some 500 passengers allowed to disembark after testing negative, a difficult 14-day quarantine period has come to an end after their dream cruise turned into a nightmare of fear and crushing boredom confined in many cases to small windowless cabins.
"NEGATIVE! Me, son, husband, mom and dad! Thank you Lord for protecting us... So emotional now," tweeted passenger Yardley Wong, who has been cooped up with her six-year-old son.
Those with no symptoms and a negative test received an official certificate saying they posed "no risk of infection of nCoV, as the said person has also presented no symptoms including fever at the time of infection." But not everyone was so lucky.
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British passenger David Abel, who became a minor celebrity with his upbeat video messages in the early days of the quarantine -- including a cheeky request to the captain for whisky -- typified the mood shift aboard.
"It's all getting to us now and it's not just me, it's the other passengers as well. It's the not-knowing factor that is the real challenge. Mentally, it's now taking its toll. Right now, it's very hard to remain focused on anything," he said.
He later announced he and his wife Sally had tested positive.
China announced Wednesday there were 1,749 new infections, the lowest number of new cases this month. All but 56 new cases were in the epicentre of Hubei province.
Michael Ryan, head of WHO's health emergencies programme, said the outbreak was "very serious" and could grow, but stressed that outside Hubei, it was "affecting a very, very tiny, tiny proportion of people."
She recommended "further 14-day self isolation or quarantine period would be advisable even in the absence of symptoms." -
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