"Therefore, it is reassuring that there has been some rapid contact-tracing [in Egypt] and all contacts have tested negative".

However, according to CNN, the disembarkation of non-American passengers will only begin on Thursday and will likely take several days.

The US State Department urged American passengers to return home.

The American planes will arrive on Sunday, and USA passengers will be screened before they can board.

Almost 400 Americans aboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan will be given the opportunity to be flown Sunday to air bases in California and Texas, where they will continue to be under quarantine for two weeks as a precaution against the COVID-19 virus. The quarantined ship has more than 3,000 passengers including six Indians and 1,100 crew members out of which 132 are Indians. The Diamond Princess, a British cruise ship docked at Yokohoma in Japan, is now under quarantine amid a rampant rise in coronavirus cases aboard.

The Travis Air Base now has about 230 people quarantined there after they were evacuated from Wuhan, China, The Journal reported.

The ship had over 3,700 people on board when it went into quarantine last week, after it was discovered that a man who disembarked in Hong Kong in January tested positive for the virus. "However, to fulfill our government's responsibilities to US citizens under our rules and practices. the USA government recommends. that USA citizens disembark and return to the United States for further monitoring".

Two buses leave a port where the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship is docked Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Yokohama, near Tokyo.

United States citizens will be offered seats on a government-chartered flight on Sunday, the U.S. embassy in Tokyo said.

After undergoing 10 days of quarantine on the ship, John said he and Carol feel fine.

About 380 people will be offered seats on two planes back to the U.S. and could arrive back home as early as Sunday.

If U.S. citizens wait for the ship's quarantine to end and choose not take the charter flight, the State Department said, they "will be unable to return to the United States for a period of time".

Japan's Health Ministry allowed 11 passengers to disembark Friday, saying that those over 80 years old or with underlying medical conditions, as well as those staying in windowless cabins during the 14-day quarantine, can stay at a designated facility on shore.

Over 1,500 people have died from the virus, which originated in Wuhan city.

In a circular, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) was quoted by news agencies, as stating, "Universal screening of all the passengers coming in flights directly from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore besides the flights from China and Hong Kong shall be ensured immediately once they step out of the specific identified aerobridge".

So far, India has reported three confirmed cases of nCoV, all from Kerala.