Coronavirus cruise ship deaths: Two Diamond Princess passengers die

Two passengers with coronavirus from the Diamond Princess cruise ship have died, according to Japanese news reports.

They were an 87-year-old man and 84-year-old woman, both Japanese, the public broadcaster NHK reported, citing government sources.

These are the first deaths associated with the coronavirus outbreak on the Diamond Princess, which has seen the largest cluster of virus cases outside mainland China.

NHK reported the pair had underlying health problems and were taken off the cruise ship to hospital last week.

The ship has just finished two weeks locked down in quarantine off the Japanese port of Yokohama, near Tokyo.

The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine for 14 days in Yokohama. Photo / AP

The number of confirmed cases among passengers and crew soared again overnight and now stands at more than 620, up from 542 yesterday.

The deaths come as about 180 Australian passengers were evacuated from Tokyo overnight. The flight also had six New Zealanders on board.

Two other Kiwis and 10 Australians tested positive for coronavirus in mandatory screening before boarding the flight and were told they had to stay behind. They were taken to hospital in Japan.

The Qantas flight 6032 arrived in Darwin this morning, where Australian passengers will spend another 14 days in isolation. The Kiwi passengers will be transferred home to face two weeks of quarantine at a military base in Whangaparāoa north of Auckland.

The 157 people evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, finished their 14 days of quarantine at the base this week.

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

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.

The ship was put in lockdown when it emerged a previous passenger, who had left the ship during a stop in Hong Kong, had tested positive for the virus.

About 600 passengers were cleared by Japanese health officials and disembarked yesterday. Several hundred others are expected to be cleared today.

There are now over 75,000 cases of the coronavirus worldwide, with 74,185 cases and 2112 deaths in mainland China.