Japan's health ministry confirmed Thursday that two elderly passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship have died from coronavirus, becoming the first fatalities from the virus-stricken vessel, SIA reports.
Japan now has three deaths linked to the COVID-19 illness. Japan's NHK public television said both were Japanese in their 80s. A health ministry official only confirmed that they had been previously been hospitalised in serious condition. The official spoke anonymously, citing office protocol.
The huge vessel moored in Yokohama near Tokyo is easily the biggest coronavirus cluster outside the Chinese epicentre, with 621 positive cases confirmed among the passengers and crew. On Wednesday, 443 passengers disembarked from the ship after testing negative for the COVID-19 virus and not showing symptoms during a 14-day quarantine period. The complete removal of the passengers was expected to take at least three days.
More passengers left the ship on Thursday, packing into yellow buses and leaving for stations and airports for home. But questions are increasingly being asked as to the wisdom of allowing former Diamond Princess passengers to roam freely around Japan's famously crowded cities, even if they have tested negative.
The Diamond Princess was placed into quarantine on February 5 when a passenger who left in Hong Kong was found infected with the virus.
Passengers were confined to cabins except for brief trips on dec k wearing masks and gloves, when they were told to keep their distance from others. But a specialist in infectious diseases at Kobe University rocked the boat with a video slamming "completely chaotic" quarantine procedures onboard, in rare criticism from a Japanese official.
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