Government of Canada evacuating Canadians on board Diamond Princess cruise ship

The Canadian government has chartered a plane to repatriate Canadians on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan. Global Affairs Canada confirmed late Saturday night that the decision was taken “because of the extraordinary circumstances faced by passengers on the Diamond Princess and to lighten the burden on the Japanese health-care system.” In what is the largest concentration of people infected with coronavirus outside China, 355 people on the