As Japanese health officials concluded the screening of the 273 passengers potentially exposed to the virus, they said that 61 had tested positive. The passengers were removed from the ship and taken to medical facilities.

“I keep hearing painful coughs from a foreigner in a nearby room,” one passenger wrote on Twitter, noting with concern that crew members were delivering meals from room to room. “I might get infected today or tomorrow.”…

Some posted a letter that had been delivered to their rooms saying that the ship was negotiating with Japanese quarantine officials to allow small groups with face masks to breathe air on open decks.

“I am so looking forward to it,” said Yardley Wong, a passenger in a windowless room who is traveling with her 6-year-old son. She said permission had been granted, with those in windowless rooms like hers allowed out first.