Loading They will then spend another fortnight in quarantine at a Darwin mining camp once they return to Australia. They will join 250 Australians who arrived at the camp from the centre of the outbreak in China on February 9. Diamond Princess cruise has the most coronavirus, or COVID-19, infections outside China. Authorities have tested 1723 of the passengers. Two chartered planes flew 340 Americans who were aboard the vessel out of Japan late on Sunday. About 380 Americans had been on the ship. The State Department said later that 14 of the evacuees were confirmed to have the virus in tests given before they boarded the planes.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video They were taken to the US because they did not have symptoms and were being isolated from other passengers on the planes, it said. Japan's Health Ministry said the 14 evacuees were among the 99 new cases, which included two other Americans and 43 Japanese. Those who were earlier found to be sick with the virus have been taken to hospital in Japan. Princess Cruises said on Tuesday it had engaged with World Central Kitchen, "a non-profit organisation founded by chef Jose Andres, which uses the power of food to heal and strengthen communities in times of crisis and beyond".

"Starting with lunch today, we will be integrating WCK meals into our food service options," the company said in a statement. More than 100 Australian residents remain stranded in the Chinese province of Hubei, where more than 1789 people have died from the virus and 59,989 cases have been confirmed. The number of deaths in China's central Hubei province from a coronavirus outbreak rose by 93 on Tuesday, the province's health commission said on its website. Loading The first group of Australians evacuated from the area and transferred to Christmas Island for quarantine on February 3 wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday pleading with him to "exhaust all means" to send another evacuation flight to the Chinese city of Wuhan.

More than 270 of them landed at airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on Monday night after being released from their two-week quarantine. "You helped us at a very difficult time, overcame all kinds of difficulties during our return to Australia, and gave us greatest possible care and help," the letter, signed by more than 200 evacuees, said. "We sincerely hope this wonderful story will have a perfect ending. We urge you and Australian government to exhaust all means to bring them home now." Mr Morrison said there were no plans for another evacuation flight from the Chinese city at this point. "We are monitoring the situation very closely," he said. "At the time when we undertook the first two flights, we were very clear we could not guarantee that there would be any further flights." There are also fears Australians on another cruise ship could have been infected by the virus. At least 79 Australians were on board the MS Westerdam cruise ship that was eventually allowed to dock in Cambodia after being turned away by several Asian countries. An American woman who had been on the ship was diagnosed with the virus by Malaysian officials on Sunday, prompting concerns passengers may have been allowed to disembark before being properly screened. Of the Australian passengers, 39 were in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh undergoing further testing and 10 remain on the vessel docked at Sihanoukville.

Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said passengers on the MS Westerdam who had returned to Australia had been contacted by state health authorities and would be isolated. Mr Morrison said he needed to make it "very clear" that any person who had been on the Diamond Princess would not be granted entry to Australia within the next 14 days if they did not take up the quarantine. "I understand that those who were on board will feel very frustrated about this as well as their family members," he said. "Our first responsibility is that we have to protect the health and safety of Australians in Australia today." The number of new coronavirus infections appeared to be declining in China, the WHO said, citing a new Chinese medical report that analyses more than 44,000 COVID-19 cases.

With AP, DPA and Sumeyya Ilanbey