Coronavirus: Flight carrying Diamond Princess passengers lands in New Zealand

The number of confirmed cases among passengers and crew soared to more than 620. Photo / AP

By RNZ

A flight carrying New Zealanders home from the Diamond Princess has landed at Whenuapai airbase.

The six were quarantined for two weeks on board the cruise ship after it had an outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

They flew from Tokyo to Darwin on an Australian Qantas flight this morning, and then headed to Auckland on a 13-seat aircraft, with a St John ambulance officer and doctor on board.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said they had shown no symptoms.

Two people were stopped from boarding the plane in Japan after they tested positive for the virus.

"They were all prepared to board the flight, it was just they had a positive test.

"I don't think they were heavily symptomatic, they hadn't presented with symptoms before they had the test," Dr Bloomfield said.

They were taken to hospital in Japan.

Australian and New Zealand passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship board a plane at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Photo / AP

The passengers who have arrived in Auckland tonight will be taken to the military base in Whangaparāoa north of Auckland for a further two weeks of quarantine.

Passengers are being released from the Diamond Princess after the ship finished two weeks locked down in quarantine off the Japanese port of Yokohama, near Tokyo.

The number of confirmed cases among passengers and crew soared again overnight and now stands at more than 620, up from 542 yesterday. There were also two deaths reported of a man and a woman in their 80s.

There had been about 3700 passengers and crew on the luxury Diamond Princess when it docked at Yokohama on February 4 after a two-week journey around Southeast Asia.

-RNZ