More than 600 people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship tested positive for coronavirus (file)
Tokyo:
A third passenger died after being infected with the corona virus on a cruise ship that was quarantined off Japan, the country's health ministry said on Sunday.
In a statement, the ministry identified the victim as a Japanese man in his eighties who also had other illnesses.
He was removed from the Diamond Princess and taken to a local hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19, with no indication of when he tested positive or where he was treated.
The man's cause of death was reported as pneumonia, the statement added.
The death comes after two other elderly passengers, also Japanese and in their eighties, died on Thursday after being infected with the virus.
Despite being quarantined against the Diamond Princess, more than 600 people on board tested positive for the virus, with several dozen in serious condition.
In total, Japan has had four deaths related to the new coronavirus outbreak that infected over 130 people, excluding those associated with the Diamond Princess.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and published from a syndicated feed.)