By Friday, nearly 1,000 passengers who had tested negative for the COVID-19 virus had disembarked from the Diamond Princess cruise ship after a quarantine period came to a close.
But rather than representing a positive turning point in the two-week saga, a growing number of questions are now being raised over the government's decision not to isolate the passengers allowed to leave the ship and its failure to test some others during the quarantine period.
News emerged Saturday that a Japanese woman who was allowed to leave the cruise ship last week was confirmed to have been infected after returning to her home in Tochigi Prefecture despite an initial negative test result, according to local officials.