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Israeli woman contracts fever on board coronavirus-quarantined cruise ship

According to Japan’s Health Ministry, 135 people on board the cruise ship have been confirmed to be infected with the deadly virus.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

An Israeli woman who is on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship has contracted a fever, a statement by the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

She has not been diagnosed with the coronavirus at the time of this report.

Over 3,600 people onboard the Diamond Princess were placed under quarantine on Tuesday at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, after it emerged that a passenger who had disembarked in Hong Kong late last month had tested positive for the virus.

Fifteen passengers on board are Israeli.

Lena Samoylov, one of the Israeli passengers on board told unnamed sources cited by Ynet what life was like for her on the quarantined ship.

“We are trying not to panic,” she said. “Today we were told that there are two more [coronavirus] patients.”

“It is stressful because we don’t know if these people [the sick] contracted the virus before boarding the ship or after boarding it,” she added.

On Monday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced that not everyone on board will be tested for the coronavirus because it will be “too difficult” to test everyone.

According to Japan’s Health Ministry, 135 people on board the cruise ship have been confirmed to be infected with the deadly virus.

Israel is taking preventive steps to delay the disease’s arrival on its shores.

On Monday, Israel’s health ministry issued an order that anyone returning from China must spend two weeks in isolation. Those falling under the order are allowed to remain in their homes. However, those who violate the order risk sentences of up to three years in prison.

Previously, Israel’s Health Minister Yaakov Litzman stopped all further flights from China into the country.