A senior US health official said today, Sunday, that there are 40 US citizens on board a cruise ship in Japan who have been confirmed with the new Corona virus, adding that no person who was infected will be evacuated.
"He has contracted 40 of them ... They will not go anywhere. They will be taken to hospitals in Japan," Anthony Fushi, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, told CBS.
"People who have symptoms (infection with the virus) will not get on the evacuation plane," he said, adding that others will be evacuated immediately.
The US Department of Defense said that it is preparing to receive two chartered planes from Japan, carrying passengers on board the "Princess Princess" cruise ship stopping at the Japanese port of Yokohama since February 3.
Once the American passengers arrived in the United States, they would be quarantined.
