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Coronavirus pandemic

Two Russians leave Diamond Princess after quarantine ends in Japan

According to Japan’s authorities, some 500 people, mostly Japanese nationals, will disembark from the cruise ship on Wednesday

© Alexei Zavrachaev/TASS

YOKOHAMA/Japan/, February 19. /TASS/. Two Russian women, who have not contracted the novel coronavirus, left the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Wednesday as quarantine is ending there, TASS correspondents reported.

They met with the Russian Embassy’s staff and traveled in the diplomatic mission’s vehicle. The two Russians will be able to leave Japan later in accordance with their plans, the Embassy said.

Read also

Russians from Westerdam cruise ship test negative for coronavirus — embassy

According to Japan’s authorities, some 500 people, mostly Japanese nationals, will disembark from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship on Wednesday.

Earlier, some 3,100 passengers and crew members remained onboard the Diamond Princess. Among them are 22 Russian nationals, who are still onboard and will leave the cruise ship in the following days. All those who have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, will leave the ship in groups of about 100 people by February 21.

Those passengers, who were in cabins with those infected, will remain onboard the ship under medical supervision even if they have not contracted the virus. The crew members will be allowed to leave the ship if they successfully passed the two-week quarantine.

The total number of coronavirus cases onboard the cruise ship stands at 542. One Russian national is among them, who has been hospitalized. His wife, who was also sent to hospital, tested negative for the virus, but she is under doctors’ care amid the risk of infection.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship left Yokohama on January 20 and returned on February 3. Among them was a coronavirus-infected Chinese citizen who left the ship on January 25 in Hong Kong. In accordance with the decision made by the Japanese authorities, the ship, with some 3,700 passengers and crew onboard, was anchored near Yokohama and quarantined for two weeks since February 5.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the WHO about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in Wuhan, a densely populated city in central China. Coronavirus cases have also been reported in 25 other countries, including Russia. The WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19. According to the latest data, the overall number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in China has hit over 75,000 and the death toll has exceeded 2,000. More than 14,600 patients have recovered to date.

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