VLADIVOSTOK, March 5. /TASS/. Seven Russians evacuated to the Far Eastern Primorsky region from the Diamond Princess cruise ship have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Department of the Russian consumer watchdog in the Primorsky region Elena Abbasova told TASS on Thursday.

"The test results of the first seven people evacuated from the cruise ship have come in from the Novosibirsk-based Vector Research Center. They tested negative for the virus," she said, adding that the test results of another two Russians were expected to arrive later.

The Diamond Princess left Japan’s Yokohama for a 15-day cruise on January 20 and returned to the port on February 3. The cruise ship was put in quarantine after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong on January 25 had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Japanese authorities put the ship, which had about 3,700 passengers and crew members from 50 countries aboard, under quarantine.

Three Russians from the Diamond Princess tested positive for the coronavirus and were taken for treatment to a medical facility in the Russian city of Kazan. Another nine passengers were evacuated to the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.

Coronavirus outbreak

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Coronavirus cases have also been reported in more than 70 countries, including Russia. Most cases outside of China have been reported in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

According to the WHO, 93,000 people have been infected with the virus across the world. The death toll has passed 3,200. The WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19.