Two more Diamond Princess evacuees test positive of coronavirus

Another two people evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to Australia have tested positive for the new virus, taking the number of Australian passengers infected to six, officials said Saturday.

Northern Territory health authorities confirmed two people from the state of Victoria tested positive for COVID-19 overnight.

This followed the diagnosis Friday of four other Australian passengers - a woman from South Australia, a man from Western Australia and two people from Queensland.

Acting Northern Territory chief medical officer Dianne Stephens said the two from Victoria and the two from Queensland would be repatriated to their home states on Saturday.

The remaining two passengers were flown home to their home states on Friday.

Meanwhile an Australian microbiologist said Saturday his team was making progress in the quest for a vaccine to tackle COVID-19.

Professor Paul Young of the University of Queensland said researchers had identified a candidate vaccine to be tested on animals.

The team had generated more than 100 versions to see which would work best, and were on course to begin clininal studies on humans by the middle of the year, he said.