Two elderly coronavirus-infected passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise moored near Tokyo have died, following an infection control specialist's criticism of Japan's handling of the virus outbreak on the cruise ship
TOKYO - Two elderly coronavirus-infected passengers from a cruise ship moored near Tokyo have died and two more government officials have been infected, the Japanese government said on Thursday, as more passengers disembarked after two weeks’ quarantine.
It added that one health ministry official and another from the Cabinet Secretariat were confirmed to be infected with the virus after both had spent time working on the Diamond Princess. Three officials had previously been infected. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga defended Japan’s efforts. He told a news conference that after measures were put in place to isolate passengers on Feb. 5, the number of new infections was now almost at zero.
An initial batch of passengers who had tested negative and shown no symptoms left the vessel on Wednesday. Some Hong Kong passengers also went home, while Canadians were due to leave on a charter flight in the early hours of Friday, a Canadian government spokeswoman said. An evacuation flight was also being arranged for British nationals to leave Tokyo on Friday.A U.S. State Department official said there were still about 45 U.S. citizens on board the cruise ship as of Thursday.
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