2 Canadians on quarantined cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

The latest:

• 2 cruise ships under quarantine1 in Hong Kong, 1 off Japan.
• 20 people, including 2 Canadians,test positive for coronavirus on ship near Japan.
• WHO seeking $675M US to ramp up efforts to fight coronavirus.
• Hong Kong says all visitors from mainland China will undergo 14-day quarantine.
• Canadians in Wuhan told flight out will be later thanexpected.
• China reports490 deaths and 24,324 confirmed coronavirus cases on the mainland.
• WATCH: What we actually know about the coronavirus.

A cruise operator says 251Canadians are aboard a ship that isquarantined off the coast of Japan because of an outbreak of coronavirus, and that two of them have tested positive.

Princess Cruises confirmed the passenger count on the Diamond Princess in an email to CBC News on Tuesday night.

It said 20 people in total,including the two Canadians,have tested positive for the coronavirus and have been taken ashore to hospital. It was not immediately clear is those cases had been confirmed by a second test.

"Local public health authorities will be disembarking those guests for transport to local hospitals immediately,"Princess Cruises said.

Japan took protective measures to prevent the spread of the disease on Tuesday, ordering the quarantine ofall 3,700 people on the ship for at least 14 days at Yokohama, near Tokyo. Food, provisionsand other supplies will be brought on board, the cruise line wrote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that Canadian officials are in touch with Japanese officials around how to support Canadians on the ship.

Princess Cruises said theaffected patients include travellers from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, the U.S. and thePhilippines.

They were among 273 people tested because they had a cough or fever, which are symptoms of the virus, or had close contact with a man who got off the ship in Hong Kong and was infected.

The path of transmission to each affected person isn't clear, and the others may have gotten the virus when they got off the ship at other port calls in Vietnam, Taiwan, Kagoshima and Okinawa.

WATCH |Passenger talks about being quarantined on ship:

Carry on: Cheerful British passenger makes best of cruise ship quarantine

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'It could be worse,' says David Abel, after confirmed coronavirus cases prompt Japan to try to contain the outbreak.

Hong Kong puts another ship into quarantine

A Hong Kong official says people on board a cruise ship that was turned away from a Taiwanese port will be quarantined until they are checked for the new virus.

The World Dream ship, operated by Genting Cruise Lines, was refused entry at Kaohsiung port on Tuesday after three passengers on an earlier voyage were later diagnosed with the new coronavirus.

Port health official Leung Yiu Hong says 90 per centof current passengers are from Hong Kong and no one is from mainland China.

He says more than 30 crew members with symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat will undergo tests.

Leung said everyone will undergo temperature screening and must fill in a health declaration form.

They won't be allowed to leave until the tests are done. Leung said the length of the quarantine or the possibility of other steps will depend on the health tests.

2nd presumptive case in B.C.

In Canada, public health officials have reported a secondpresumptive caseof coronavirusin B.C. A woman in her 50swho lives in the Vancouver area had been in contact with family members who had been in Hubei province, provincial health officials said Tuesday. She is currently in isolation at her home.

If the national lab confirms the case, it would be the fifth confirmed coronavirus case in Canada.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says therisk inCanada from coronavirusis low.

WATCH |What we actually know about the coronavirus:

What we actually know about the coronavirus

5 years ago

Duration 5:10

Information about the coronavirus outbreak is spreading fast, but what do we actually know about the illness? CBC News medical contributor and family physician Dr. Peter Lin breaks down the facts about what it is, where it came from, how it spreads and what you can do to protect yourself.