In a major development, a third Indian national on board the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess has been tested positive for novel Coronavirus or COVID-19, that has so far claimed nearly 1,400 lives in China and three outside the mainland.

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.

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“Update (as on 14 Feb 2020) On #Indian Nationals On-Board the Quarantined Cruise Ship #DiamondPrincess at #Japan” and attached the health bulletin in the tweet, Which said: “As of 14 February 2020, altogether 218 people have tested positive for COVID-19,including 3 (three) Indian crew members. All 2018 people including Indian nationals have been taken to hospitals for further treatment and quarantine,” the embassy tweeted.

Update (as on 14 Feb 2020) On #Indian Nationals On-Board the Quarantined Cruise Ship #DiamondPrincess at #Japan pic.twitter.com/2tVwbvFTu2

— India in Japanインド大使館 (@IndianEmbTokyo) February 14, 2020

According to the embassy, no other Indian national on board the cruise ship has developed any symptoms of the infection.

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 also said that it was 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.

It added that it reached out to the Indian nationals including both crew members and passengers through emails and telephone calls and explained to them about the quarantine regulations of Japanese authorities.

According to the embassy, all of them responded to have understood. The Indian Embassy in Japan also said that they were constantly in touch with the ship management company and the employer of the six passengers for appropriate facilitation.

On Wednesday, an Indian crew member Anbalagan hailing from Tamil Nadu in a WhatsApp video said: “We need help and we are all scared. Six members of the crew were infected with Coronavirus.”

The cruise ship is quarantined off the coast of Yokohama in Japan.

The cruise ship quarantined off Japan’s coast has the biggest cluster of Coronavirus cases outside China, on which 218 infections have now been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Indian port authorities have decided not to allow the disembarkation of the crew of ships from China, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore, to avoid the spreading of the deadly Coronavirus.

Ships from these countries are allowed to berth but the crew will not be allowed to disembark regardless of their nationality. However, the berthing ships will also not be allowed to dump their garbage.

Amid novel Coronavirus outbreak in China, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed the border guarding Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to adopt airport-like screening procedures at the borders as preventive measures to deal with the deadly infection.