Canadian cruise ship passenger tests negative for coronavirus in Cornwall, Ont.

TORONTO – A Canadian who recently arrived in Canada after being aboard a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship in Japan has tested negative for the illness while under quarantine in Cornwall, Ont.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says the person is part of a group of 129 Canadians and their families who landed on Canadian soil Friday morning after spending weeks confined to cabins aboard the Diamond Princess ship.

The group is expected to undergo another two weeks of isolation at the Nav Centre in Cornwall, Ont., where they will be monitored for potential signs of the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

The agency says one person reported feeling unwell after arriving in Canada and was tested for the virus but the results came back negative.

No other details were provided.

All of the passengers were tested for the virus by Japanese officials before they left the ship, which has been docked in Yokohama, Japan, since early February.

Health officials say Canada chose to re-quarantine the passengers after they’d already gone through two weeks of isolation aboard the Diamond Princess because new cases were still cropping up on the ship at the end of the incubation period.

The ship was the site of the largest outbreak of COVID-19 outside of China, where the virus originated. The Diamond Princess had more than half of the confirmed cases outside that country.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2020.