Two Israeli diplomats have been placed in quarantine in Japan.
Less than a week after escorting 11 Israeli nationals from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to the plane that returned them to the State of Israel, the two diplomats who helped the Israelis have now been placed in isolation in Tokyo themselves.
The quarantine is being carried out in order to ensure that the diplomats themselves did not become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus while carrying out their duties in helping the Israelis transition from the cruise ship to the plane that took them home.
Four Israelis who came down with the virus are being treated at a hospital in Tokyo under the close supervision of an Israeli infectious diseases specialist.
In the course of a two-week quarantine, the cruise ship – which had a total of 3,711 guests and crew members — went from 10 cases of the novel coronavirus to 691 confirmed cases, in addition to one quarantine officer who worked on the ship.
Four people who were on the ship have died of the illness. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 40 Americans tested positive for the virus.