Two passengers from a cruise ship quarantined in Japan, have died after contracting the Covid-19 virus.
The two Japanese citizens were in their 80s and had underlying health conditions, local media said.
At least 621 people on the Diamond Princess tested positive for the virus – the biggest cluster outside mainland China.
Meanwhile China, where the outbreak began, has seen a sharp drop in the number of new infections.
The Diamond Princess was carrying 3,700 people in total and passengers who tested negative for the virus began leaving the ship on Wednesday after a 14 day quarantine.
Passengers continue to disembark on Thursday.
The two passengers who died had already been taken off the ship last week and were being treated in hospitals.
As infections continue to rise, there has been growing criticism over Japan’s handling of the quarantine on the Diamond Princess.
Japanese health expert Kentaro Iwata, professor at the infectious diseases division of Japan’s Kobe University, visited the Diamond Princess and said the situation on board was “completely chaotic”.
He explained his criticism in a widely shared YouTube video which he has since taken offline.
US officials have also said moves to contain the virus “may not have been sufficient”.
But on Thursday a Japanese health ministry official responded to Mr Iwata’s criticism, saying authorities had worked hard to deal with a very complicated situation.
New infections in China declining
Meanwhile in China, authorities have reported a sharp drop in new coronavirus infections.
There were 394 new confirmed cases and 114 deaths reported on Wednesday, down from 1,749 new cases on Tuesday, the National Health Commission said.
Overall, there have now been 2,118 deaths and more than 75,000 confirmed infections recorded in mainland China. About 16,000 patients have recovered.
