'Bureaucrats were in charge': Japanese doctor blasts ship quarantine

Professor Kentaro Iwata, an infection control specialist at Kobe University Hospital, describes the conditions on board the Diamond Princess, in Kobe, Japan February 18, 2020 in this still image obtained from a social media video. KENTARO IWATA/via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese infectious disease specialist has castigated his government's handling of quarantine on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, saying it was run by "bureaucrats" who stoked the crisis by failing to follow basic protocols.

Kentaro Iwata of Kobe University Hospital took his criticism to YouTube after he spent a day as a volunteer doctor on the Diamond Princess. The luxury liner has become an incubator for the novel coronavirus, with more than 600 people now infected.