Cruise ship turned away as virus alarm doctor dies in China

BEIJING (AP) — Japan on Friday reported 41 new cases of a virus on a quarantined cruise ship and turned away another luxury liner while the death toll in mainland China rose to 636, including a doctor who got in trouble with authorities in the communist country for sounding an early warning about the disease threat.

Following an online uproar over the government's treatment of Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, the ruling Communist Party said it was sending an investigation team to “fully investigate relevant issues raised by the public” regarding the case.

Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members remained under 14-day quarantines in Hong Kong and Japan.

Before Friday's 41 confirmed cases, 20 infected passengers were escorted off the Diamond Princess at Yokohama near Tokyo. About 3,700 people have been confined aboard the ship.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday that Japan will deny entry of foreign passengers on another cruise ship — Holland America's cruise ship Westerdam, on its way to Okinawa from Hong Kong — because of suspected virus patients found on board. The Seattle-based operator denied anyone had virus.

Abe said the new immigration policy takes effect Friday to ensure border control to prevent the disease from entering and spreading further into Japan.

The ship with more than 2,000 people was currently near Ishigaki, one of Okinawa's outer islands, and was seeking another port, said Overseas Travel Agency official Mie Matsubara.

"Everyone is starting to reject the ship and we are getting desperate," she said. “We hope we can go somewhere so that passengers can land.”

At least four other cruise ships, two foreign and two Japanese-operated, are headed to Japan by the end of the month, Transport Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba...