Coronavirus cases on quarantined cruise ship double overnight

Testing of passengers on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan has found an additional 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed infections aboard the ship to 130.

The ship, currently docked in the port of Yokohama, was quarantined earlier in the month after a man who disembarked from the ship in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus.

It currently has about 3,700 people aboard, including a crew of 1,100, Reuters reported. During the quarantine, passengers have been allowed onto the decks in shifts amid continuous monitoring for any further cases.

“I will get nervous if we pass 200” coronavirus patients, a 43-year-old man from Hong Kong aboard the ship with his family told the news service.

“Hoping best for those taken to hospital. At least two report back to us on Facebook that they are symptom-free,” the man, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

The Japanese health ministry is separating cases of the virus on the ship and flights of evacuees out of China from the nation’s official domestic tally, which currently stands at 21. More than 900 people have died of the virus thus far, the majority of them in mainland China, where the outbreak is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan. More than 40,000 people have been infected.