Tokyo, February 20: One more Indian aboard a quarantined cruise ship off Japan was tested positive for the novel coronavirus and shifted to hospital, taking the number of Indian nationals infected with the virus on the vessel to eight, the Indian embassy said on Thursday. The Diamond Princess cruise ship arrived in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on February 3 with 3,711 passengers and crew on board, 621 people were found to be infected with the deadly coronavirus after it was diagnosed in a man who disembarked last month in Hong Kong.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the ship. In a tweet, the Indian embassy here said, "1 Indian crew who tested positive for #COVID19 among 79 new cases on #DiamondPrincess yesterday too has been shifted to hospital for treatment. All 8 Indians receiving treatment are responding well. Rest all Indians on-board are braving out the trying circumstances." Coronavirus Outbreak: Major Headway in Fight Against COVID-19, Candidate Vaccine Ready For Pre-Clinical Tests.

Earlier, seven Indians were tested positive for the COVID-19. The mission said that infected Indians were responding well to the treatment. Meanwhile, some of the passengers with no infection began leaving the ship on Wednesday after the end of a two-week quarantine period that failed to stop the spread of the virus among passengers and crew.

"About 500 more passengers began disembarking on Thursday while another 100 people were to leave for chartered flights home, a health ministry official was quoted as saying by the Japan Today newspaper. An initial batch of passengers who had tested negative and shown no symptoms left the vessel on Wednesday, the report said.

The Indian embassy earlier said it was making efforts for de-boarding of all the Indians from the ship after the end of the quarantine period and was in discussions with the Japanese government and the ship management company for the disembarkation modalities and welfare of the Indians.

China, where the virus outbreak occurred, is grappling to contain the deadly disease as the number of deaths climbed to to 2,118 on Thursday with the death of 114 more people, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei province.

The virus outbreak originated in China's Hubei province in December and has spread to more than 25 countries, including India. Many countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights to the country.