Health Authorities Find Traces of Covid-19 In Cabins 17 Days After Passengers Leave Diamond Princess

For those who were keeping track of the news, you may probably have caught wind of the Diamond Princess cruise ship at some point, as for a period of time, the cruise ship suffered from an outbreak of the Covid-19 virus on-board, forcing passengers and crew to be trapped in isolation. Well, since then, members of crew and passengers alike have been allowed to disembark from the besieged cruise ship, but according to Bloomberg and CNBC, one guest still lingers.

In a report released by the American Centre for Disease Control, it has been revealed that despite both passengers and crew having disembarked from the cruise ship for over 17 days, traces of Covid-19 still remained on surfaces within cabin rooms.

RNA, the genetic material of the virus that causes Covid-19, “was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess but before disinfection procedures had been conducted,” said researchers.

However, it is worth noting that finding the RNA of the virus does not necessarily mean that the virus spreads through surfaces. CDC researchers themselves couldn’t determine if the transmission occurred as a result of these contaminated surfaces, and mentioned that further study on the matter is required.

Tara C. Smith, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Kent State University, told Business Insider  that just because a virus’ RNA was found on a surface, doesn’t necessarily mean that the virus is still alive. 

At one point, the Diamond Princess cruise liner was declared to have had the highest number of Covid-19 cases outside of China, with over 800 people on board infected. Nine people died as a result of their infections.

What do you guys think of this development?