Diamond Princess has been a floating quarantine site for a week and a half, with 355 passengers now diagnosed with coronavirus and taken into isolation at hospital onshore after another 70 cases were revealed on Sunday. Loading The ship, docked in Yokohama with 3700 passengers and crew on board, including 200 Australian citizens and residents, has the most coronavirus infections outside China. Mr Hunt said any evacuated passengers would most likely need to go into quarantine again in Australia, noting many of them were elderly and may need major hospital facilities. US passengers who were allowed to evacuate the ship on Sunday night will be quarantined again when they reach their home country.

"It's likely, as the Americans have done, they may have to be in a quarantine situation but [there will be] more advice coming today, decisions today, announcements today," Mr Hunt said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Christmas Island may not have the facilities to care for the elderly cruise passengers. "There's quite specific needs we wouldn't be able to accommodate at Christmas Island for the more elderly group of people. That's not an option we're considering for this operation and we don't have any other operations envisaged at this time," Mr Morrison told reporters in Melbourne. He will convene the national security committee later on Monday to hear advice about Australians aboard the Diamond Princess cruise. More than 200 people would leave Christmas Island on Monday after two weeks of quarantine which he said had "worked incredibly well".

"I want to thank those who have been patient and gone through that quarantine period. Having to go into a quarantine period for 14 days is an inconvenience. But they understood why. They took that in good faith and I'm sure they're looking forward to coming home," Mr Morrison said. A second group will stay to complete their 14-day quarantine period until February 24 or thereabouts. If there is not enough room on Christmas Island for new evacuees from the Diamond Princess, they could be sent to Darwin, according to a source close to the government. A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs confirmed arrangements were being made to transfer people off Christmas Island once they had been medically cleared.

No quarantined Australians at Christmas Island or Darwin have tested positive for the virus. In for the long haul: Australian woman Aun Na Tan and her family in their cabin on board the Diamond Princess, which has been docked in quarantine in Yokohama. Credit:Aun Na Tan Victorian woman Vera Koslova-Fu has been confined to her cabin with husband Sean, while her two sons, aged 18 and 21, are in another cabin down the hall. She said people were trying to get fresh air and exercise, and that tensions on board were rising with a lack of clarity over what would happen next. "I'm angry our government has not done anything useful," she said via text message on Sunday. "Mood on board are [sic] people are frightened of the unknown."

Loading She said the possibility of being sent to Christmas Island was "not ideal". "I want everyone to be [swab] tested," she said. "If I test negative then I'm happy to self-quarantine at home." Separately, concerns have mounted that passengers infected by the coronavirus had been allowed to disembark from the Westerdam cruise ship in Cambodia and depart for other countries around the world after Malaysian officials confirmed that a second exam for an ill passenger returned positive. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told reporters on Sunday that an 83-year old American passenger on the Westerdam cruise liner tested positive for the coronavirus twice – once on Friday and once on Saturday – after she landed in Kuala Lumpur despite being screened earlier by Cambodian health officials.