TOKYO, February 5. /TASS/. Ten people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reported on Wednesday.

"We have completed medical examination of all passengers and crew members. All 273 people who had any contact with the infected people or who had any symptoms of the virus, were tested. At the moment, we have received the results of 31 people, and ten of them tested positive," minister Katsunobu Katu told a press conference.

There are currently 3,700 passengers and crewmembers on board the cruise ship. Katsunobu said that all those infected with the coronavirus were hospitalized, and their conditions is stable. They were brought to the shore by a coast guard ship since the cruise ship was not yet allowed to enter the port. Patients were hospitalized in Kanagawa prefecture.

The cruise ship left Yokohama on January 20 and returned on February 3. On the way, the ship stopped at ports on the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Kyushu, as well as in Hong Kong and Vietnam. The 80-year-old man who was initially infected with the coronavirus remained on the ship on January 20-25, and he left the ship in Hong Kong. He was hospitalized as well, and his condition is stable.

So far, 23 cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Japan.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent: coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Cases of the new coronavirus were also confirmed in 24 other countries, including Russia. The WHO declared the new coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency.