Covid-19 survivors: Hong Kong passengers relive time trapped on Diamond Princess cruise – first major cluster outside China
- Dentist recalls watching infection rates climb, relying on online information as city residents tested positive – sleepless nights followed
- Others, however, including 72-year-old Anna Au, say the experience won’t stop them from taking cruises in the future
When Lam Kwing-tong discovered he had Covid-19 antibodies in his bloodstream in late February, it came as a shock given his lack of symptoms. The 56-year-old dentist’s diagnosis at a quarantine camp in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin district, however, was only the culmination of an experience he now says was like “living in hell.”
Lam and his wife, Lau So-kuen, were among 364 Hong Kong residents on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where 712 people were infected and eight died, three Hong Kong residents among them.
The world’s attention was focused on the cruise ship back in February when it became the largest single cluster of the deadly coronavirus outside mainland China. It proved to be a premonition of things to come, highlighting how quickly the disease can spread.
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Coronavirus: 106 Hongkongers return from infected Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan
Since February, the coronavirus has swept the globe, infecting more than 28 million, with more than 907,000 dead. It has brought international travel to its knees, and a US$150 billion cruise industry that carried 30 million passengers a year has ground to a halt.
Ships infected with the coronavirus earlier this year were not allowed to dock, forced to sail aimlessly as they sought an open port that would accept them. Seven months later, the contamination problem remains, and some lines do not plan to sail again until 2021.
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In total, 85 Hong Kong residents on the Diamond Princess tested positive for Covid-19. Three who contracted the virus on the ship told the Post of a delayed reaction in trying to control the outbreak, a lack of information and being so desperate for fresh air that passengers would sneak on deck despite the risk of infection.
Two months after returning home, Lam would still lay awake at night, unable to sleep.
