The Indian Embassy in Japan on Saturday said it is making efforts to disembark all the Indians on board the cruise ship Diamond Princess, moored off the Japanese coast, after the end of the quarantine period as authorities confirmed that 218 people, including three Indians, have been infected with the deadly novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 on the ship.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the quarantined ship that arrived at the Japanese coast earlier this month. 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.

Advertisement

The Indian Embassy is in contact with Japanese authorities, the ship management company and Indian nationals on board the ship.

“We have continued our efforts with all of them for early disembarkation of our nationals after the end of the quarantine period and subject to favourable results of their tests for COVID-19,” an embassy official told news agency PTI.

On Friday, a third Indian national on board the quarantined cruise ship was tested positive for novel Coronavirus or COVID-19, that has so far claimed over 1500 lives in China.

The update was given by the Indian Embassy in Japan a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday informed that two Indian crew members have tested positive for Coronavirus.

All three Indians, who have tested positive for the disease, have been contacted by the embassy of India in Tokyo and are under treatment at the medical facilities. “Their health conditions have been confirmed to be stable and improving,” said the embassy in the health bulletin.

The embassy has also said that it is constantly in touch with the Japanese authorities to ensure the well being of all the Indian nationals on board the ship, who in response confirmed that they had been following the designated health protocols.

The cruise ship is quarantined off the coast of Yokohama in Japan. So far, the ship has the biggest cluster of Coronavirus cases outside China.