14 U.S. cruise ship evacuees test positive for coronavirus

A bus full of Americans
(Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Chinese authorities reported early Monday that there were about 100 new deaths from coronavirus, the lowest daily count since Feb. 11. The flu-like virus now has killed more than 1,700 people, Reuters reports. The number of confirmed infections in Hubei province, where the outbreak is centered, rose on Monday after falling for two straight days. Authorities in Hubei imposed tough new restrictions on movement as they continued to step up efforts to contain the spread of the outbreak. The number of new cases outside of Hubei province fell for the 13th consecutive day. "These are all extremely good signs that show our prevention work is very effective," National Health Commission official Guo Yanhong said.

Meanwhile, two planes left Japan early Monday carrying 328 Americans who spent two weeks quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship due to a coronavirus outbreak on board. Fourteen of the American passengers were confirmed to have been infected with the flu-like virus, BBC reports. There were about 400 Americans on the ship, and at least 40 are being treated in Japan after being diagnosed with coronavirus. CNN has video from evacuated Americans:

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.