Cruise ship Filipino crew recovers from Covid-19

The M/V Diamond Princess was quarantined at the port of Yokohama on February 5 after one of its passengers contracted Covid-19. (File photo by 223keisinkaisokuhimejiyuki/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA – The 80 Filipino crew members of M/V Diamond Princess who earlier tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Japan have all recovered, the Philippine embassy in Tokyo said on Wednesday.

“All Filipino crew of Diamond Princess who have been admitted to hospital have already been successfully treated, discharged, and repatriated as of yesterday, March 31,” Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robespierre Bolivar said in a text message.

Bolivar said the last crew member was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday.

The M/V Diamond Princess was quarantined at the port of Yokohama on February 5 after one of its passengers contracted Covid-19.

After the quarantine, a total of 445 Filipinos aboard the cruise ship who tested negative for the virus was repatriated on February 26.

In a television interview, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose Laurel V said there are two Filipino Covid-19 cases in Japan, all of whom are land-based.

“Dalawang Pilipino lang ang tested positive, ang isa ay nasa Osaka, ang isa ay nasa Nagoya (There are only two Filipinos who tested positive, the one is in Osaka, the other one is in Nagoya),” he said.

There are at least 325,000 Filipinos in Japan, the envoy said.