VLADIVOSTOK, July 8. / TASS /. Crew members of the Russian Ice Stream refrigerator (Ice Stream) in the South Korean port of Busan, who had previously been found to have the coronavirus, began to be discharged from the hospital after negative tests, Ekaterina Morozova, general director of the Refransflot ship owning company, told TASS on Wednesday.

On June 21, an outbreak of coronavirus infection was recorded among the crew of a ship arriving in Busan. The diagnosis was confirmed in 16 people ,and they were hospitalized. After repeated tests, two more people were hospitalized. In addition, an ill sailor was re-registered with Ice Stream from a neighboring vessel that had already left the port.

"Of the 19 people, 9 are already on board, they are being discharged slowly, they should do a second test today. They are tested every day, as soon as the test shows a negative result, they are discharged," the agency’s source said.

After hospitalization, 18 of the 21 crew members, the three remaining people were placed in a hotel for foreigners, which served as an observation point. According to the source, these people have also returned aboard Ice Stream.

Russian Federal Fisheries Agency announced its readiness to apply harsh measures to the ship owner of Ice Stream, potentially the withdrawal of the certificate of safety management in connection with the outbreak of infection. The head of the department Petr Savchuk instructed the Northeast Territorial Administration to sort out the situation by involving Russia's Consumer Watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, around 11.6 million people have been infected with the coronavirus around the world, more than 537,000 have died. According to the federal operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus, in Russia 694,230 cases of infection were registered, 463,880 people recovered, 10,494 died.