Tokyo: One more Indian aboard the quarantined cruise ship ‘Diamond Princess’ in Japan has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and shifted to hospital, taking the number of Indian nationals infected with the virus on the vessel to seven, the Indian Embassy here said Wednesday.
Among the 3,711 passengers and crew, 621 people were found to be infected with the new coronavirus as of Wednesday. Eighty eight people had tested positive Tuesday and a day earlier 99 others were found to have been infected.
In a tweet, the Indian Embassy here said, “1 Indian crew who tested positive for COVID19 among 88 new cases on Diamond Princess shifted to hospital for treatment.” Earlier, six Indians had tested positive for COVID-19.
The mission said that infected Indians were responding well to the treatment. One hundred and 38 Indians, including 132 crew and six passengers, are among the 3,711 people on board the ship that arrived at the Japanese coast earlier this month.
Meanwhile, passengers began leaving the ship Wednesday after the end of a two-week quarantine period that failed to stop the spread of the virus among passengers and crew.
“About 500 passengers are expected to leave Wednesday, and Japanese officials will spend several days staging the high-stakes evacuation of about 2,000 others,” the ‘Japan Today’ newspaper reported. Crew members are expected to stay on the ship, it said.
The Indian Embassy earlier said it was making efforts for de-boarding of all the Indians from the ship after the end of the quarantine period and was in discussions with the Japanese government and the ship management company for the disembarkation modalities and welfare of Indians.
PTI