Coronavirus: two Hong Kong residents infected on Diamond Princess cruise die in Japan
- Authorities confirm the Covid-19 deaths of a Hongkonger and a resident with a British passport
- Earlier, a woman became the first of the Hongkongers airlifted from Hubei province to be diagnosed with the coronavirus
Two Hong Kong residents who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship have died in Japan, as the city confirmed its first coronavirus case from those airlifted out of the contagion’s epicentre in mainland China.
Hong Kong’s Security Bureau said on Saturday a passenger from the ill-fated cruise had succumbed to Covid-19 on Friday and immigration officers were providing assistance.
The bureau said a British passport holder with Hong Kong residency had died earlier and the family was being supported by the UK government.
It was also announced late on Saturday that Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon would cut flights between Hong Kong and Japan ahead of the suspension from Monday of visa-free entry for city residents into the island nation.
Earlier, a 38-year-old woman became the first of the Hongkongers airlifted this week from Hubei province to be diagnosed with the coronavirus.
She was one of two new cases confirmed in Hong Kong on Saturday, taking the city total to 109.
The woman went to the central Chinese city of Wuhan in January to visit relatives and eventually returned on a government-chartered flight on Thursday, which she boarded without showing symptoms.
She was on the fourth of a series of flights returning 469 Hongkongers on Wednesday and Thursday from the epidemic's epicentre, where they had been subject to an anti-contagion lockdown.