Coronavirus: Hong Kong resident denies he is ‘patient zero’ of Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak
- In his first interview with English-language media, the passenger widely deemed responsible for the cluster of infections says he has been unfairly blamed
- His version of events, updates from officials about when symptoms emerged, and expert opinion support the possibility someone else was the source
It was supposed to be an ideal family trip – a cruise aboard a luxury liner setting out from Japan and sailing around Asia.
But for one Hongkonger, a journey in late January with his two daughters turned into a nightmare that ended with him being made – wrongly, he says – into a global pariah, patient zero of the coronavirus outbreak that left about 700 people on board the Diamond Princess infected, and seven dead.
The passenger, who asked to be identified only by his surname Wu, recently spoke to the Post to express his anger and frustration over what happened, and give his version of the events leading up to the quarantine of the vessel, along with 3,700 passengers and crew.
Widely shared Chinese social media posts and articles have blamed Wu, 80, for causing the outbreak. Even the English-language Wikipedia entry on the incident has a table showing the itinerary of the cruise, listing him as the index case.
“If I was patient zero, how come my daughters who dined with me on the ship every day and my wife living with me in Hong Kong have not contracted the virus?” the retired PE teacher said, sitting with his wife in their small flat on a public housing estate in Kwai Chung, New Territories.
She agreed, saying: “We were sent to the quarantine camp [in Hong Kong] for 14 days and had temperature checks daily. Everything is normal.”