ALARMING

Two Quarantined Cruise Ship Passengers Have Died From Coronavirus

Japanese officials described the two victims only as a man and a woman in their eighties, according to local reports.

Two passengers from a cruise ship that has been quarantined off the coast of Japan over coronavirus fears have died from the virus, Japanese officials announced Thursday, according to local media reports. The passengers were described only as a Japanese man and a Japanese woman in their eighties from the Diamond Princess ship, though no further details were available. News of the two deaths—the first confirmed from those among the cruise-ship passengers—comes amid concerns that passengers allowed to disembark from the Diamond Princess and another cruise ship, the MS Westerdam, may have unintentionally spread the virus. An 83-year-old woman allowed to leave the Westerdam over the weekend and catch a flight to Malaysia later tested positive for the virus. More than 620 passengers from about 3,700 on board the Diamond Princess have tested positive for the virus.