Three more coronavirus cases found on Japan cruise ship

Three more people on a cruise ship off Japan have tested positive for new coronavirus, bringing number aboard to 64, government said Saturday, with passengers facing a two-week quarantine.

latest confirmation came a day after an ditional 41 passengers were found to have contracted virus, which has killed hundreds of people, most of m in China, where it has infected more than 30,000 on mainland.

Japanese authorities have so far tested about 280 people on board Diamond Princess, which was quarantined after a former passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong last month, was diagsed with virus.

Test results from six more people were released on Saturday, with three of m confirmed infected, health ministry said without giving furr details such as ir nationalities. three people have alrey been sent to hospital, ministry said in a statement.

re were more than 3,700 passengers and crew on ship when it arrived off Japan's coast on Monday evening. It docked in Yokohama on Thursday to resupply for a quarantine that could last until February 19.

One of those found infected is in serious condition. Many on board are elderly and at greater risk of developing complications from virus. Testing was initially carried out on those who displayed symptoms or h come into close contact with former passenger diagsed.

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Japan has alrey reported at least 25 cases of coronavirus aside from infections on board ship, and evacuated hundreds of citizens from Wuhan, Chinese city where pathogen emerged, including on a fourth flight Friday.

Passengers on ship have been asked to stay inside ir cabins to prevent new infections and have expressed confusion and frustration. World Health Organisation (WHO) called on Tokyo to provide sufficient support, including mental care, for passengers and patients.

"re's a lot to do to support those patients. t just from point of view of ir physical health but from a mental health perspective," Michael Ryan, he of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, told reporters in Geneva on Friday.

"It's quite scary, very, very scary to be in that situation," he said. "It's a very stressful situation for those individuals." But he also called for calm, saying: "Let's be careful here t to overreact. This is a very close community living in very close quarters."

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