As confirmed by a Japanese health ministry official on Thursday, two elderly passengers, a man and a woman in their 80s of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship who contracted the novel coronavirus have died in Japan, the first deaths from the outbreak on the ship.
The cruise ship, which docked in Yokohama after a two-week tour of East Asia, had 3,700 passengers and crew on board when 14 days quarantine started 5th February. As of Wednesday, 621 positive cases confirmed out of 3,011 tested.
As of now, the death toll rose to 2,118 in mainland China as 114 more people died, but health officials confirmed the lowest number of new cases there in nearly a month, including in the hardest-hit province, Hubei.
Over 74,000 people have been infected in China and hundreds more in some 25 countries, with Iran reporting two deaths, the first death in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, 443 passengers get off from the ship after testing negative and not showing any symptoms during 14-days quarantine period. The complete removal of the passengers to last at least three days.
Those passengers left the ship on Thursday, packing into yellow buses and leaving for stations and airports.
