An Italian who was flown back to the United States from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship off Japan is believed to have tested positive for the disease, foreign ministry crisis unit head Stefano Verrecchia said on Monday.
"One of our citizens seems to be infected," Verrecchia told Italian public broadcaster Rai's 'Agora' talkshow.
"He was on one of the flights back to the US because he resides there and is married to an American woman," Verrecchia added.
The man is the first Italian aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship to test positive for the coronavirus, Verreccchia said.
More than 300 American passengers from the Diamond Princess were being repatriated voluntarily, according to the US state department. Fourteen of the evacuees were reported during transit to have tested positive for the virus and were being kept separate from the other passengers, the US state department said. The evacuees will undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival in the US.
There were 99 new cases of infections aboard the Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 454 confirmed cases, Japanese officials said on Monday. The ship's passengers have been largely confined to their cabins since February 5 with only brief, occasional breaks to take air on deck wearing face-masks.
It is the largest cluster of cases outside China and the biggest test so far of other countries’ ability to contain an outbreak that has killed 1,770 people in China and five elsewhere since mid-December.
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