LettersCoronavirus bullies: Diamond Princess ‘patient zero’ a classic case of victim-blaming

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Passengers of the Diamond Princess send off those leaving the cruise terminal in Yokohama, Japan, on February 19, after a two-week quarantine period following a coronavirus outbreak. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:25am, 20 Mar 2020Updated: 6:25am, 20 Mar 2020

My heart broke to read the report, “Coronavirus: Hong Kong resident denies he is ‘patient zero’ of Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak” (March 12), featuring the 80-year-old Mr Wu, labelled as “patient zero” on the Diamond Princess and dubbed the “King of Virus” by internet users.

Not long ago, local and international news outlets were avidly reporting the number of confirmed cases on the cruise ship 24/7: “44 more cases on Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored off Japan”, “99 more cases on Diamond Princess as US evacuates citizens”, “British man who was on Diamond Princess dies in Japan”.

We read such reports throughout February and worried about those on the ship. Unfortunately, more than 700 people got infected and seven lost their lives.

Imagine how Mr Wu, with all those epithets attached to his name, was made to feel. It was sad to read about how he calculated and investigated whether he was really “patient zero”. It is clear that the label – which tacitly holds him liable for the loss of at least seven lives – affected him deeply.

“Patient zero” or not, the fact is that Mr Wu is also a victim of Covid-19; he too contracted the virus from someone else and his life was also at risk. More importantly, Mr Wu did not board the ship with significant Covid-19 symptoms.