The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed two Serbian citizens, passengers on board the Diamond Princess, about the possibility of their evacuation by a special flight organized by Italy , as well as the conditions and the way in which this evacuation would be realized. Nevertheless, Serbian citizens have made the decision to return to the Republic of Serbia once the quarantine is over, by commercial flight in their own arrangement and with the assistance of Princess Cruises. These two passengers are still awaiting their medical screening results.

As regards the 12 citizens of Serbia who are crew members on board the "Diamond Princess", five are still in isolation, and two of them previously tested for the coronavirus have received confirmation that they were negative. Despite their being asymptomatic, the decision of the ship's management, dated 18 February, that all crew will be quarantined for a further 14-day period after all passengers disembark, remains in force.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health of Japan, out of a total of 2,404 people tested on board the Diamond Princess, 542 have been positive so far, of which 254 are asymptomatic cases.
On 18 February, Princess Cruises distributed to all passengers on board information about special flights organized by individual countries to repatriate their citizens, including Italy, which offered the possibility of evacuating our citizens. They were reminded that only those passengers who were confirmed not infected with the coronavirus would be able to disembark, and that anyone tested negative would receive a document from the Yokohama Quarantine Service, which allows them to disembark and which contains the result of the last testing. At the same time, it was stressed to all passengers that there was no guarantee that this document would be accepted by commercial airlines. In this regard, all passengers who do not avail themselves of the possibility to be evacuated by some of the special flights, will be provided accommodation by the company at a special hotel until their transfer aboard the selected commercial flight.

Japanese media report that the first 500 passengers can be allowed to disembark as early as today, and that the end of the disembarkation of the remaining passengers is planned for 21 February.
The Embassy of Serbia in Tokyo will continue to monitor the situation on the Diamond Princess, and provide all necessary support to Serbian citizens (both passengers and crew members), as well as a Montenegrin who is also one of the ship's crew.