CLARK FREEPORT – Over 400 Filipinos on board two chartered flights from the Covid-19 stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan landed at the Haribon Hangar of the Philippine Air Force here safely at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and 12:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The first flight to arrive was carrying 309 Filipinos from the Diamond Princess, two Department of Foreign Affairs officers, and four medics from the Department of Health.
The second flight was carrying 136 crew members from the Diamond Princess, two DFA officers, and five DOH medics.
All Filipinos from the Covid-19 stricken cruise ship tested negative of the virus and were brought to the New Clark City at the Clark special economic zone for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
In Japan, the Filipinos had undergone a 14-day quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
A total of 538 Filipinos— seven passengers and 531 crew members— were aboard the M/V Diamond Princess when one of its passengers tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this month.
The total number of Filipinos on the cruise ship who have tested positive for the virus has reached 80, according to the DOH.
Ten of the infected have been given a clean bill of health and have left hospital, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido “Dodo” Dulay said in a latest update on the cruise ship situation.
Meanwhile a fourth person died in Japan after becoming ill aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the media reported Tuesday.
Nearly 700 people on board the Diamond Princess, which spent two weeks quarantined off Yokohama, Japan, have so far tested positive for the virus.
Four people who were hospitalized after being taken off the ship died, the latest a man in his 80s, according to media reports.
