Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) has been taking all possible measures to ensure the health of the passengers on board by instructing them to refrain from unnecessary and nonurgent outings and confirming that all scheduled to board our ships take PCR tests and test negative for the COVID-19 before sailing.

One person on board the Support Vessel YOKOSUKA on a research cruise since August 20, 2021, was strongly suspected of infection with the COVID-19 on August 22. YOKOSUKA had temporarily returned to Yokosuka Headquarters on August 23, and as a result of PCR tests, the suspected person was confirmed to be positive for the COVID-19.
These are posted on our website on August 24.
http://www.jamstec.go.jp/e/about/informations/notification_20210824.html

Then we conducted the PCR tests on all passengers except the person tested positive above. Four new positive cases have been confirmed, bringing the total number of positive cases in this research cruise to five as of today.
The Yokosuka City Public Health Center, which has jurisdiction over this case, has determined this case as an outbreak.
The five people confirmed to be positive proceed with disembarking to rest under the instructions of the local health center.
JAMSTEC and its Emergency Response Headquarters Office headed by the President will continue to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 following the instructions of the local public health center.
Considering the current situation, we have decided to cancel this research cruise.

- If there are any changes in the situation, we will post them on the JAMSTEC website.

【Reference】Information on the YOKOSUKA research cruise
Cruise schedule was from Friday, August 20 to Wednesday, September 8

The vessel was scheduled to research Sagami Bay, Nankai Trough, and off Tanegashima Island to study the environmental adaptation and group connectivity of non-thermal water chemosynthetic communities in the Japanese coastal waters.