Two more Indians on board the quarantined cruise ship, Diamond Princess, off Japan have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 even as New Delhi assured that it will provide all possible assistance to its nationals on the ship to return home after they test negative in the final tests that would begin on Monday, the Indian Embassy said on Sunday.
A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the ship, Diamond Princess, that arrived at the Japanese coast earlier this month.
“Over the last 2 days, 137 new cases on #DiamondPrincess tested positive for #COVID?19, including two Indian nationals, taken to onshore medical facilities for treatment. Three other Indian crew members, receiving treatment are responding well, with no fever or pain,” the Indian Embassy tweeted.
Earlier, three Indian nationals had tested positive for the deadly virus and are receiving treatment.
On Saturday, it said that the condition of the three Indians infected with the virus was improving.
The Indian Embassy in a tweet said that the final tests for the COVID?19 on the ship would begin on February 17 and continue over multiple days.
“Hoping our Indian nationals – braving the situation, to test negative, allowing them to travel back HOME. @IndianEmbTokyo stands ready for all possible assistance,” the mission said.
The Indian Embassy is in contact with Japanese authorities, the ship management company and Indian nationals on board the ship.
Outside China, the biggest cluster of infections is on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Yokohama, where Coronavirus cases have climbed quickly to 355 despite passengers being confined to their cabins during a 14-day quarantine.
It was quarantined after a passenger who de-boarded last month in Hong Kong was found to be the carrier of the deadly virus on the ship.
Meanwhile, China reported 105 new deaths due to the new coronavirus on Monday, pushing the overall death toll to 1,770.
The National Health Commission said 2,048 new cases of the virus have been confirmed, taking the total number of COVID-19 infected cases to 70,548.