US to evacuate Americans as virus cases rise on quarantined ship

Americans will be removed from a cruise ship quarantined off Japan and flown home, the US embassy said Saturday as dozens more cases of the new coronavirus were diagnosed on board.

At least 285 people on the Diamond Princess have contracted the illness but hundreds of passengers and crew have not yet been tested as they wait in a quarantine that was scheduled to end February 19.

In a message to Americans, the embassy said the US government “recommends, out of an abundance of caution, that US citizens disembark and return to the United States for further monitoring”. (Text courtesy The Guardian)