A Russian passenger onboard the quarantined Diamond Princess ship has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, marking the first infection of a Russian citizen, Russia’s Embassy in Japan said Monday.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship, owned by Carnival, has been quarantined since arriving in Yokohama, Japan on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong before it traveled to Japan was diagnosed with the virus.
The unnamed woman is among 24 Russian passengers confined on the luxury cruise vessel with more than 3,000 passengers.
The woman will be taken to a hospital and treated, the embassy said in a post on Facebook.
The woman is thought to be the first Russian national to contract the virus after the two previous cases found in Russia were Chinese nationals.
More than 350 passengers onboard the Diamond Princess have tested positive for coronavirus, including Americans and Australians.
The United States evacuated about 400 of its citizens from the Diamond Princess on Sunday. Australia, Canada, Italy, South Korea and Hong Kong have announced plans to repatriate passengers.
Across mainland China, officials said the total number of coronavirus cases totaled 70,548, with 1,770 deaths.
Outside China, more than 500 infections have been confirmed, mostly in people who traveled from Chinese cities. Five deaths were recorded in Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and France.
Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
Leave a Reply