A passenger from the Diamond Princess cruise ship which was quarantined in Japan earlier this month has died, the first British citizen known to have succumbed to Coronavirus worldwide.
An unnamed British citizen has died in Japan of Coronavirus, the sixth person to have died who had been a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship so far. Of the 3,711 people who had been on board when Coronavirus was first detected on the ship, 705 were subsequently found to have been infected.
The sheer number of people involved made the Cruise Liner one of the single largest hotspots of the virus anywhere on earth outside of China. Dozens of British passengers who had been tested and found to be uninfected were flown home earlier this month, but four Britons infected with Coronavirus stayed in Japan, where the ship is berthed. The death of the Briton leaves three UK citizens with the virus from the ship in Japanese hospitals.
The British foreign office is investigating the report of the Japanese health ministry over the death of the British citizen, reports the BBC.
The spread of the Coronavirus in the United Kingdom has been slower than some other countries, especially compared to Italy, the worst-hit nation outside of Asia where 650 are known to have been infected and 17 killed. The United Kingdom has 19 known cases and, now, one fatality of a citizen abroad.
Worldwide, there have been over 83,000 known cases of Coronavirus detected and over 2,800 deaths.