Free of tensions could crop Global Economic growth by 700000000000. 00 we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in the government has shifted focus from saving lives to save the economy. Counting the cost on aljazeera. Its a. Good thing. The princess sailed into sydney for the 1st time last year the ship was greeted with fireworks and celebrations and so on but everybody was to go along. Now the ruby princess is famous for all the wrong reasons i put the Mighty Dollar 1st again i never put out safety 1st absolutely appalling what ive done. A special commission of inquiry is examining how hundreds of infected passengers were allowed to leave the ship spreading the virus around the country and the world we thought we were going to go into the problem we didnt realize we were going to be the problem one o one a steam vista gates how this Public Health disaster was ever allowed to happen. In. The disaster that struck princess cruise ships began in january when the diamond princess set sail from tokyo bank. Suzanne distilled her and her family were among the thousands of passages looking forward to a carefree holiday. I like the entertainment on the ship but i like the fact you dont have to think about where to go for your next meal its just they dont have to plan you can just go with the flow take part in a lot of activities or relax. We do carnival believe fun is a choice Carnival Cruise corporation is the Worlds Largest cruise conglomerate with 9 brands and over 100. 00 ships including the princess plate. In late january the diamond princess was 5 days into its cruise when it failed into hong kong harbor. On the 25th we docked in hong kong and thats when i rang mom and dad and i was chatting to them and thats when dad said to me said business while screwing around and were watching it on the news and you know i think you guys need to be really careful and at that point i said today thats a nice if you know the ship in or they would be they would and if it was source us they would be taking us to these ports. While the ship with in hong kong and the 80 year old passenger left the cruise crossings and some things dont annoy you know there was some guy watch on why ive been gone for a substantial one days later he was taken to hospital and tested positive for corona virus the Hong Kong Health department moved quickly to notify the ships local agent weve known turner well and said to leave to the ship notifying the of the situation around advise them to do the misses so. Cleaning up voted more was formed the. Email with guards around 10 15 in the evening went to the director of Customer Services and the Administration Office so that we did not get a response not only that we also cant go to the princes headquarters for asia in australia the following day so im not sure we could have done much more. Passengers werent told about the positive test for more than 36 hours. As the dharmic princess felt towards japan the captain broke the news. This. The end was 9 c as passengers enjoyed dinner that evening they had no idea the virus was already silently spreading amongst them was 6 so many people on the ship like yours sitting together you having your meals you having a dinner cooked the waiters youve been on at the bar. Verdict. That night the distilled has celebrated a family birthday. They had no reason to think they were in danger. We didnt realize what was going to hit us in a few odds. The diamond princess docked at yokohama the next morning. Japanese officials boarded to screen passengers. Passengers waited to learn when they could disembark. And just like everyone was lost it so it was far more beautiful body board and having a lot of fun just people just sitting there very very worried and you could just stand that the hold mood was completely changed. And then the announcement came that you know the ships going to be quarantined 14 days because if the passenger that had run a virus on the ship and that. Each day the captain delivered the break news of the growing number of infections. They. Work. This is. The Japanese Ministry of health was in charge of the current crisis. Infection control specialist professor kentaro wattle was so horrified by what he saw when he went on board he posted this video. Of a store scared i was so scared of getting covered 1000 because joe is no way to tell where the pharisees no green zone. Everybody could have and everybody was not cheerful about it just so below deck the galley crew had to keep working to feed guests these crewmembers put on a brave face assuring the outside world that they were ok but some of their cars. Leagues were becoming thick and thats not surprising because they were not isolated and then subsequently the cruet began to spread that disease today as a century us and that resulted in the infection. Became symptomatic after disembarked too and as a places. The beer was spreading throughout the shame. For days into quarantine suzannes 21 year old daughter bianca became unwell she was really bail and really frightened pretty much shaking in the chair. She later tested positive along with her mum and dad and they were taken off the ship. The shot i think the. Princess prayed here to about this spread of the disease inside the cruise ship and the were not to. Be mindful about the fact turkey many passengers were elderly people who are susceptible to severe disease. There have been more than 700 confirmed cases of covert 9 tain on the diamond princess at least 13 people are dead. Weve learned a lot from the worlds top experts and has stepped up a whole protocols even more these additional steps partnered with everybody doing their part to care for their own personal health well it harms the cruising experience so it continues to be an exceptional and safe way to travel and see the world i think going on a cruise after this happened and continuing. Running the ships when all this was going on was crazy. By early march corona virus was spreading unchecked around the world and a new horror was about to unfold. The ruby princess was heading to sydney after a 2 week cruise around new zealand. When Health Officials boarded the ship they found more than 366. 00 passengers and crew awaiting assessment 9 of them was swapped for covert 9 taint but despite the risks posed by the virus the ruby princess was already preparing for its next cruise to set sail in a matter of balance. Tracey temple was at the terminal with her mum waiting to board the next ruby quintus crudes they wondered why there was a delay gossipers going around that site passengers had been tested for flu like symptoms and i was just waiting for results to come back and that New South Wales skills had corn train the ship and that they were fumigating all i panicked. And went and tried to find somebody from the cruise ship i found a lady in a white uniform and i said to her. I would like to ask you a question how am i kidney and pancreas transplant patient. I want to know if its saif for myself or my mother to get on to this cruise and she said that the cruise ship would not let one passenger lead to larn all passengers they put at risk if there wasnt saif to sign. The ruby princess sound out light on the night of the 8th of march. His room the park the richest leaving in its 4th to a living. Just enjoy next thursday night on the ship had no inkling of the disaster about to unfold. Maureen doors and her partner of almost 30 years len fisher were excited for the trip ahead we had to talk. To. A dozen women to sit and they swell up and did they just they proposed a brown still to come since. This is. Having a lovely do not the 1st few days of the cruise were trouble free like that until our for ages. There were a grand to try this alleged lives tracy and her mom dined with friends and explored on shore here there with their mother for i have a long battle going. On trying to get the stars of the ship so just Common Grounds they are still there. Its. 4 days in the marriage shifted when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Under me it is an old award to use rightly or carelessly we were watching the news and we did not know until we were on the ship that it again cost us a pandemic. Then of course you panic and you think oh my god you know because theres not a while you can get off. Princess announced it would stop new cruises for the next 60 days. Already at sea the ruby princess sailed on. This is wellington. Says margaret stadium here right next door to. The ruby princess north tonight. Passengers joined to was around the town oblivious to the risk they could be spreading the virus. We came back we hit a restaurant we hit every single store on the street to support the locals and thats what we did. The ruby princess left behind a cluster of infections in new zealand with 24 people testing positive. We are now suffering the consequences of cases here in new zealand as a result of that cruise ship. In the middle of march these trailing and new zealand governments took action. Destroyed government also banned cruise ships from foreign ports from arriving and strong ports for. Buys. The ruby princess was given an exemption and turned around to head back to a stray Leah Lawrence is referring to there be it with this. Ship lost was the side. To time it all stroy at the di and no i nothing had changed whatsoever it was the sign as. You do on a normal cruise anyway. As the ruby princess headed back to sydney the ships head doctor warned New South Wales health the ship seemed to be in the early phases of an influenza outbreak passages were told nothing. So i just kept reassuring you all the time but the ship is virus free. And the new regulations the ruby princess was required to report to authorities if anyone on board had corona virus like symptoms. The ship submitted a series of mandatory prayer rival Health Reports to federal authorities. The 1st reports showed 53 people were sick and 10 had a temperature over the next 2 days those figures more than doubled 13 people with swabs for covert 19. This ship reported less than one percent of those on board had influenza like illness on that basis New South Wales health decided it was low risk. But nice south wales health wasnt told when more sick passengers came forward later that day. On the final night of the ruby princesses voyage the atrium was packed for the farewell party. We want to say thank you cause it was safer to. Use the call to thank you for being part. Of this recall just that it isnt. Just before 7 pm the ships quarter agent was dialing triple 0 there was a similar minute phone call from carnival employee. New south wales same 2 words they were trying to book 2 ambulance to take off 2 passengers who had both presented with proper rest between issues and they both had secondary Health Issues want to do with heart issue and want to do with lower back. And today report there was a risk the patients could have covered 90 certainly in that phone call that that was obvious to me that they were concerned about that and personal Protection Equipment was mentioned. And symptoms people with the flu so there was certainly enough concern in that phone call that meant that the ambulance officer who took the course collided to this supervisor because of their concerns. That ambulance supervisor called the New South Wales portable thoresby to warn that issue with coming in with some coronavirus patients on board. That then caused the Port Authority to have concerns with the ruby princess and actually asked them to stop their progression into sydney harbor. After more late night phone calls the head of the portal rang a senior manager at carnival this trailer that manager told the portal 30 bus that the ambulances were not called for clover 19 related brazenness and that missed out wells health had determined the ship was low risk and had cleared it to berth and disembark passages as a result of that conversation the portal 30 reversed its decision and allowed the ship to dock. A number of triple 0 phone calls between the Port Authority. And use of force ambulance radio transmissions between the Port Authority and the ship a mile transmission between the Port Authority in the ship what i was looking for was evidence around 9 time like symptoms on the ship that would have clearly righted the ship to a medium or high risk classification at no time did our foreign covert no i dont like symptoms mentioned anywhere in any of the pipework from carnival all the really princess. So what does that say to you well it says to me a couple of things. There was. An on a strong response from the ship whether its a captain the doctor or the crew in relation to the whole side of the ship as it was coming into the port of city. The ruby princess docked at 2 30 in the morning 2 passages were rushed to hospital would later test positive for car that 19 the other coronavirus taken from passages were also sent for testing. On the morning of the 19th of monch crew lined up to fan well the passengers. They say you do in the side 5 all the way down the ship im like literally thinking oh my god i just thought the people. It was i think it. So we get off and on think and this is crazy theres nobody nobodys protecting the rest up be that you know thats what im thinking is probably not that bad. You know ok that i to me that i handed you off like cattle as quick as she could get off and we had no chicks whatsoever. It wasnt a saying because we felt safer on the show. We thought we were going to go into the problem we didnt realize we were going to be the problem but. It took more than a day for the 13 covert tests from the ship to be processed 3 because the tive. That meant thousands of passengers and crew had potentially been exposed to the virus. When tracy returned to brisbane she tested positive for karen think a more infected i just cant do it. And mark are sorry if i did and if it cause somebody to get sick or to draw our car nearly lost my life pairing. And mark transpired as well because. Somebody is neglect somebody stupidity. Just from law is that. Because as far as im concerned i put the mardi dollar 1st and i never put our safety 1st and its absolutely appalling its atrocious. In tasmania Maureen Dawes is mourning the loss of her partner of nearly 3 decades. Days after they finished their cruise len fisher became critically ill with covert dined tain. She was allowed into his hospital room to say goodbye. And moan. But its just lit with the. Smile. And. He still. Works her love salutes to a pro one just a pearl. Hes already in the dock to its so good to me. And tell me in each state that its not cool. And the camp only needs. To stay. The tour groups to do it. And i must say. From christie put up. Somebody needs to be held accountable because yes new staff Whilst Health let us disembark the ship box Princess Cruises put us on the ship to begin with and i think all these debacle with the diamond princess that i should have cancelled the cruise before us and aus just. Because i have a shooting of chaos was supposedly duty of care to look after their passengers. Who conducted 2. Searches of the ship which means a place in full people have gone on of the ship to collect evidence the Police Commissioner directed the homicide squad to investigate taking the black box with multiple my ball far along with medical records. You know i felt that there are Unanswered Questions but the death toll from the ruby princess was was wrong as in not just in New South Wales where it crosses try and the world so from our own was the criminal negligence relation to the wire that this matter was handled that contributed to the deaths of any of those people the Cruise Company insists it did nothing wrong ruby princess fully reported his Health Status using the official federal and state maritime reporting systems we take these obligations very seriously and strictly adhere to them. All gas could disembark ruby princess because that was the official Health Clearance process that existed at the time. You. Say youll. Convo has posed cruises for now but hasnt stopped marketing. Tool. North of miami travel agent diane feet is recovering from covert 9 tain. 7 out of a 10 person to a Group Contract of the virus that she plans to cruise again. Cruising is definitely the bang for the buck a lot of hearing people that cruise or got a cruise again. As the ruby princess finally set fell from astray and it left behind a terrible toll. At least 850 passengers and crew have contracted quite benign tain 24 i did. More opinion is that i should put it somewhere out in the middle of the i should and sink. You know get me on a cruise ship in for a guy. It is when youre abducted and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army. For the socalled comfort women of the 2nd world war decades have passed but the trauma lives on. Witness follows the story of the women who campaigned with unwavering resolve for an official apology for this appalling chapter in history. The apology on aljazeera. One half scottish and half weatherlys so diversity is really important to me and aljazeera is the most diverse place ive ever worked its we have so many different nationalities and this is east brought together in this one News Organization and this diversity of perspective is reflected in our coverage giving a more accurate representation of the world we report on and thats a key strength of aljazeera. This deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful secure and prosperous middle east the u. S. Brokered an agreement for israel and the u. A. E. To establish full diplomatic relations israels also opposing but not scrapping its plans to annex land in the occupied west but that is done in factions are united in their condemnation of the deal describing it as a betrayal of the ballast