COVID-19: 119 Indians on board quarantined cruise ship brought back from Japan

New Delhi, Feb 27: A special Air India flight on Thursday brought 119 Indian nationals back, who were on-board the Diamond Princess Cruise ship docked off at Yokohama in Japan.

The evacuees included 113 crew members and six passengers.
"In line with India’s neighbourhood first policy and Indo-Pacific vision, the special flight also evacuated 5 foreign nationals -- 2 Sri Lankans, 1 Nepalese, 1 South African and 1 Peruvian", Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

All the evacuees will undergo a 14-day quarantine at the quarantine facility set up by the Indian Army in Manesar, Haryana.

Of the total 138 Indian nationals originally on-board the Diamond Princess, 16 Indian crew members have tested positive for Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) and are receiving necessary medical care and treatment at onshore medical facilities in Japan. Embassy of India in Tokyo has already established contact with these individuals and is continuously following-up on their recovery.

The ship was put under quarantine by Government of Japan on February 5 for 14 days until February 19, as one of the passengers who had disembarked from the ship had tested positive for COVID-19.

The quarantine period was extended by the Government of Japan as the crew members were performing their regular duties during the initial quarantine period of 14 days.

Apart from the cruise ship, Japan has identified 186 cases till Thursday, including people repatriated from Wuhan, China. With a total of 844 cases Japan ranks second, just behind South Korea, in the number of confirmed cases outside mainland China.