TOKYO, February 18. /TASS/. Three new coronavirus cases have been registered in Japan’s Wakayama prefecture, the Wakayama administration said Tuesday.
According to the statement, one of the infected is a first responder brigade employee, who worked at the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined over mass coronavirus infection.
The ship left Yokohama on January 20 and returned on February 3. A Chinese national, infected with the coronavirus was among the passengers, he stepped ashore on January 25 in Hong Kong. The Japanese authorities ordered the ship to be put into two-week quarantine.
On February 17, the Japanese medics registered 99 new infection cases at the ship, while the total number of the infected reached 454, making the cruise ship the largest coronavirus hotbed outside China. One Russian woman was diagnosed with the coronavirus - the first case among Russian nationals. Overall, 522 coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Japan.
The Chinese authorities registered an outbreak of the novel coronavirus (official name COVID-19) in Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people, in late December 2019. Cases of the novel coronavirus were found in 25 other countries and territories, including Russia. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. According to the latest data, the death toll from coronavirus has exceeded 1,800 and more than 73,000 people have been infected. Nearly 13,000 people have recovered.