South Korea is set to receive from the Japanese authorities a list of passengers from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship as Seoul intends to prevent foreigners from the ship from entering the country, Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) South Korea is set to receive from the Japanese authorities a list of passengers from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship as Seoul intends to prevent foreigners from the ship from entering the country, Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said that the passengers stranded aboard the quarantined cruise ship in Japan could leave the liner starting from Wednesday until Friday.
"We have requested through the foreign ministry the list of passengers who boarded the cruise ship but have not received the list yet for various reasons," the senior official said at a briefing, as quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news agency.
The Diamond Princess cruise liner was placed under quarantine after a passenger who left the vessel in Hong Kong tested positive for the novel coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19. A total of 3,711 passengers, including 14 South Koreans, and crew are aboard the vessel. So far, 355 people have tested positive for the virus.
The current death toll from the deadly epidemic has exceeded 2,100 people with over 75,000 others being infected worldwide. Meanwhile, more than 16,000 patients have fully recovered.
