BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.19
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan’s citizens who are currently aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship where coronavirus outbreak has been detected will soon return to Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tleuberdi said, Trend reports with reference to Kazakh media.
Tleuberdi noted that Kazakh citizens aboard the ship are not infected with virus.
“First of all, Kazakh citizens are not sick which was proven by the tests. The quarantine has now been lifted. Starting today the passengers are starting to disembark the ship. Additional tests will be carried out when on the land. In the case that the tests are negative we’ll work on bringing them home as soon as possible,” the minister said.
He added that the transportation will be carried out by plane and at the passenger’s own expenses.
Tleuberdi also added that in the case that coronavirus tests will come back positive Kazakh citizens will most likely undergo treatment in Japan.
Two women and two children aged 8 and 12 from Kazakhstan are aboard the Diamond Princess ship where coronavirus is spreading.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined after a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong was confirmed to have the disease. Based on the latest data, the total number of passengers infected with coronavirus is 542 people, making the ship the biggest cluster of cases outside mainland China.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. Since then over 2,000 people have died and over 75,000 people have been confirmed as infected.
Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. It is primarily spread through airborne contact or contact with contaminated objects.
Chinese health authorities say that the majority of the people who have died were either elderly or had underlying health problems.
Aside from Mainland China, the cases of coronavirus spreading have also been confirmed in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, the US, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, France, Canada, the UAE, India, Italy, Russia, Philippines, the UK, Nepal, Cambodia, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Sweden and Sri Lanka.
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