Passengers talk about life aboard stricken cruise ship
"We need to make sure that we focus on our objective, our public health objective, which is to contain the virus, and not to contain the people, and making sure that we have the right balance between the health of the population in Japan and other countries, but also the health of the people currently on this boat," she said.
According to Japanese media reports, it is estimated that people from more than 50 countries and regions are on the Diamond Princess. A number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Italy and South Korea, have evacuated their citizens from the ship.
However, Matthew Smith, a US citizen who has been quarantined on the vessel with his wife, said he prefers to remain on the liner.
"Our greatest desire at this point is to maintain the quarantine that the Japanese health officials have imposed and then be tested for the virus at the end of this period so we can establish with relative certainty that we are not infected and are free to go," Smith said.
Two charter flights were arranged by the US on Monday to evacuate its citizens from the ship.
Some 400 US citizens and their families on the vessel will also be offered seats on two flights to Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. US medics will screen the passengers, and those exhibiting symptoms will not be allowed on the flights.
