YOKOHAMA, Japan – Princess Cruises confirmed Thursday that eight Americans on board its quarantined ship in Japan have tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The cruise line says a total of 41 people aboard the Diamond Princess ship have tested positive for the virus. The other infected passengers include 21 people from Japan, five from Australia, five from Canada, one from Argentina and one from the United Kingdom.
Officials say the infected passengers will be taken ashore by the Japanese Coast Guard and transported to local hospitals for care.
According to the cruise line, there were 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew aboard the ship as of Tuesday.
The cruise was supposed to depart from a port in Yokohama on Tuesday, but instead, it was quarantined after a guest on a previous voyage tested positive for the virus upon returning home to Hong Kong on Feb. 1.
The hospital where the patient went told Princess Cruises that he is in stable condition and the family members traveling with him remain symptom-free.
As for the hundreds of passengers who remain on the ship, the cruise line says they will be quarantined on the boat until Feb. 19, unless there are any other unforeseen developments.
In China, where the 2019 novel coronavirus is believed to have originated, at least 636 people have died from virus and more than 31,000 have been infected, The New York Times reports.
