TOKYO: An additional 79 cases of coronavirus have been discovered aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, the health ministry said Wednesday (Feb 19), bringing the total to 621.

READ: Passengers leave virus-riddled cruise ship in Japan after 14-day quarantine



The new figures come as an initial batch of passengers began disembarking after enduring a 14-day quarantine and then testing negative for the virus.

The ship is the biggest cluster outside China, where new figures showed the death toll surging beyond 2,000 with more than 74,000 infected. Hundreds more cases have been reported in two dozen countries.



The United States evacuated more than 300 citizens from the ship on Monday, and more countries are following suit.





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