Two Russian citizens from a quarantined cruise ship have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of infected Russian nationals to three, Russia’s Embassy in Japan said Thursday.
One Russian passenger of the Diamond Princess liner has been hospitalized on suspicion of contracting the virus, the embassy said Tuesday. More than 620 passengers have been infected on the ship, which has been quarantined since Feb. 3 with about 3,700 people on board.
“As a result of a check conducted by Japanese doctors, two more Russian citizens were diagnosed with coronavirus,” the Russian Embassy said in an online statement.
“The Russians feel normal. The disease isn’t showing any severe symptoms,” it said, adding that the passengers will be hospitalized soon.
The cruise ship has been quarantined in Yokohama since Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong before it traveled to Japan was diagnosed with the virus.
Japanese authorities said 79 new cases have been discovered on board, bringing the total to at least 620, well over half of the known cases outside mainland China.
Hundreds of passengers disembarked the cruise ship Wednesday after being held on board in quarantine for more than two weeks.
The second group of about 600 Japanese and foreign passengers from the Diamond Princess was set to disembark Thursday. Russia’s embassy said that four Russian citizens have disembarked the ship. It was thought that around 24 Russian citizens were initially onboard the Diamond Princess.
Two elderly Japanese passengers from the quarantined ship have died of the disease.
Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
