The Korean government brought the President's special aircraft to Japan this afternoon to welcome four isolated citizens on the Diamond Princess cruise ship to return home.

The presidential jet, VCN-235, departs from the military base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, this afternoon, which will land at Japan's Haneda Airport, according to South Korean Deputy Health Minister Kim Gang-lip.

The plane will return to Gimpo International Airport on the morning of February 19 with four Korean nationals and one Japanese married to one of the four. These are Koreans stuck on Diamond Princess yacht isolated in Japan due to corona virus.

Fourteen Korean nationals, including nine passengers and five crew members, have been on Diamond Princess yacht since the first recorded Covid-19 infection aboard the boat earlier this month. All Koreans on board have not been infected with nCoV. However, those brought back to Korea will continue to be isolated for another 14 days.

The President's special aircraft will only bring 5 people to Korea, while the remaining 9 people want to stay aboard. Among them are three permanent residents in Japan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea.

The United States had previously sent more than 300 citizens aboard, including 14 people infected with Covid-19. Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Italy are also preparing similar flights.

Diamond Princess Cruise, carrying 3,711 passengers and crew members, was quarantined as of 4 February in the Port of Yokohama, after a tourist from Hong Kong last month was positive for nCoV. Yacht yesterday recorded an additional 99 people infected with corona virus, bringing the total number of cases to 454, making it the second largest outbreak in the world, just behind mainland China.

The Covid-19 epidemic broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019, so far, it has appeared in 27 countries and territories. The epidemic caused 1,873 deaths, 73,332 cases, of which 12,712 were cured.