Covid-19 cruise
Operated by Princess Cruises, Diamond Princess was carrying 1,045 crew members and 2,666 passengers. Credit: Alpsdake.

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The Indian Embassy in Tokyo has announced that a charter flight is being arranged to evacuate Indian citizens on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

On 25 February, the Indian Embassy in Tokyo tweeted: “A chartered flight is being arranged to repatriate Indian nationals on board Diamond Princess, provided they have (a) consented; (b) not tested positive for Covid-19; (c) cleared by the medical team. An email advisory to this effect, with details, has been sent to them.”

It was not mentioned if the repatriated citizens will have to undergo additional quarantine when they arrive in India.

The cruise ship was carrying 138 Indians on board with 132 crew and six passengers.

On 24 February, 14 Indians tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19), including the recent test results of two crew members.

The 14 citizens are said to be responding well to the treatment in Japan.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship has been quarantined in Japan since 5 February. Passengers, who tested negative for coronavirus, started disembarking the cruise ship on 19 February.

The US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and the UK have evacuated their citizens from the cruise ship. The Philippines has also started its evacuation process.

The epidemic has so far killed approximately 2,700 and infected more than 80,000 people around the world. India has reported three cases with no deaths.