Coronavirus: Two patients from Japan cruise ship dead

A man cycles past city buses (back L) lined up to transport the first batch of passengers disembarking from the Diamond Princess cruise ship - in quarantine due to fears of the new COVID-19 coronavirus - at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama. Pi

Tokyo: Two elderly coronavirus patients from a quarantined cruise ship off Japan have died, media reports said on Thursday, citing a government source.

A man and a woman in their 80s who had been infected have died, public broadcaster NHK and other media said.

No immediate confirmation was available from the health ministry. They would be the first fatal cases among more than 600 confirmed on the ship.