Coronavirus outbreak: 2 Indians on Japanese cruise ship Diamond Princess test positive

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Two Indian crew onboard cruise ship Diamond Princess off the Japanese coast have tested positive for Coronavirus. The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks on arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on February 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the novel Coronavirus. As many as 3,700 people are on board the Diamond Princess. The cruise ship usually has a crew of 1,100 and a passenger capacity of 2,670.

A total of 138 Indians, including passengers and crew, were on board the ship.

"Due to the suspicion of novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection, the ship has been quarantined by the Japanese authorities till February 19, 2020," the embassy said in a statement.

"Altogether 174 people have been tested positive for nCoV, including two Indian crew members," it said.

All the infected people have been taken to hospitals for adequate treatment, including further quarantine, in accordance with the Japanese health protocol, it said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Japan Health Ministry said 39 people were tested positive for the novel coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has also stepped efforts across the globe on ways and means to respond to the Coronavirus threat.

Meanwhile, according to a WHO report, no new countries reported cases of 2019-nCoV in the past 24 hours.

WHO report further said: 

• An advanced team is currently in Beijing to prepare an international mission and to determine the questions the international team will want to learn more about: from characteristics of the virus to public health response China put in place to try to contain the virus. The group of international experts, with a range of specializations, will work with Chinese counterparts on increasing understanding of the outbreak to guide global response efforts.

Since being notified of the outbreak on 31 December, the WHO Country Office in China, supported by the regional and international offices, has worked to support China, and indeed the world, to scale up the response. A small mission was sent to Wuhan mid-January, and the Director-General visited in January.