A total  number of 11 Filipinos have already been infected with the deadly 2019 coronavirus  disease (COVID-19) aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, after six more Filipinos have tested positive for the virus, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) revealed  on Thursday.

There are more than 3,700 people on board the vessel currently in Yokohama.

A total of 538 of these passengers are Filipinos.

The DFA said the Filipinos who tested positive for COVID-19 had been taken to various hospitals in and around the Tokyo area.

It added that there was no Filipino among the new group of 44 persons who tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

“The Philippine Embassy in Tokyo is in regular communication with the Filipinos in the hospitals and note that they are responding well to treatment,” the DFA said.

“The embassy, in coordination with the Japanese Government, is sending care packages containing toiletries and non-medical supplies to Filipinos who are in hospital as well as those who remain onboard the Diamond Princess,” the DFA also said.

The DFA on Monday said that four more Filipinos on the cruise ship had been found positive for COVID-19 from the initial single case, bringing the number to  five during that time.

The DFA said an embassy team also visited the hospitals on Thursday afternoon to speak with the doctors and social workers assigned to the Filipino patients in order to ensure their well-being.

The Diamond Princess has been quarantined since February 4 after a former passenger tested positive for the COVID-19.

Reports said some 175 people in the vessel have already been infected with COVID-19, which is the largest outbreak of the virus outside of mainland China./Stacy Ang