Emergency meeting for Germany's cruise passengers

The German Foreign Office announced a crisis meeting on Monday aimed at repatriating German citizens that have travelled in areas effected by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Two Germans aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, and were taken to a local hospital in Yokohama.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry told reporters in Berlin they were both well and had not yet shown any symptoms.

"We are also in touch with the other Germans on board and as far as we know, there are no other infected persons," Christofer Burger said.

Burger said the crisis talks, which were aimed at repatriating German nationals, involved other "European partners" who also have citizens in virus effected areas.

There were some 57 German passengers aboard the virus stricken Westerdam ship in Cambodia.

Some of them were already on their way home, while others were still aboard the cruise ship, the German news agency dpa reported.

More than 100 Germans who were evacuated from the hard-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the new outbreak, were set to end their prescribed 14-day quarantine period on Sunday.

They were kept isolated at a military base in the southern town of Germersheim.

None of them have tested positive for the disease, German news agency dpa reported.