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Two more Russian passengers of quarantined cruise ship diagnosed with coronavirus

This increases the total number of infected Russians aboard the Diamond Princess to three

TOKYO, February 20. /TASS/. Japanese doctors have diagnosed two more Russian nationals aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship with novel coronavirus, the Russian embassy in Japan said on Thursday.

"As a result of tests made by Japanese doctors, coronavirus was confirmed in two more Russian citizens. They will be taken to hospital soon and receive all necessary medical assistance there. The Russians feel well, the disease proceeds without acute symptoms," the embassy said in a statement, posted on its Facebook page.

This increases the total number of infected Russians aboard the Diamond Princess to three. Earlier, one Russian national was hospitalized over coronavirus infection. His wife was also put into hospital for supervision, although she was not diagnosed with the disease. The embassy said it stays in contact with the two Russians, adding that they fell well.

There are 621 people infected with the coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess, quarantined in the Yokohama port. On Thursday, first deaths were reported. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, two passengers have died: a 84-year old woman and a 87-year-old man. Both were Japanese nationals.

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 was anchored near Yokohama and quarantined for two weeks since February 5.

Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in Wuhan, a densely populated city in central China, in late December 2019. The WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19. Coronavirus cases have also been reported in 25 other countries, including Russia.