Israel’s Health Ministry announced that Japan’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday morning that two Israelis on the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship with an outbreak of coronavirus anchored off Yokohama port, tested positive for the coronavirus and were transferred to a hospital in Tokyo. A third Israeli may have contracted the virus as well but test results have not yet been confirmed.

The report added that the Israelis have only mild symptoms.

Israel is sending a senior physician specializing in infectious diseases, Professor Ron Nir-Paz, to Japan on Monday to assist the Israeli patients and ensure they are receiving the best medical care possible. Deputy Director of the Health Ministry Itamar Grotto left to Japan on Motzei Shabbos following Health Minister Yaakov Litzman’s decision last week to send him to Japan to assist the Israelis on the ship.

Earlier on Sunday, Japan’s Health Ministry stated that another 70 people aboard the quarantined ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising the total number of people aboard the ship who have contracted the coronavirus to 355.

Meanwhile, the US says Americans aboard a quarantined cruise ship will be flown back home on a chartered flight Sunday, but that they will face another two-week quarantine.

“Based on the high number of COVID-19 cases identified onboard the Diamond Princess, the Department of Health and Human Services made an assessment that passengers and crew members onboard are at high risk of exposure,” the US embassy said in a letter to its passengers.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)