- The number of coronavirus cases among passengers aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship has almost doubled, going from an initially reported 70 to 136 as of Monday.
- Indian crew members are making public appeals, begging their government to rescue them.
- In a series of Facebook posts, Binay Kumar Sarkar said that those who are healthy should be allowed to disembark before they too contract the coronavirus, which is "risking everyone's [lives]."
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Verified coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship surged over the weekend. The Indian crew members on board are begging their government for help.
On Monday, officials in China and Japan confirmed that 136 passengers on board the ship that arrived in Yokohama on February 3 have been diagnosed with having the virus. They've been quarantined at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal ever since their arrival.
The number of cases jumped from around 70, the number of cases that were initially confirmed. The ship is carrying 3,700 passengers overall.
A group of Indian crew members shared a video on Facebook on Thursday, begging their government to rescue all 160 of them.
One crewman, identified by The Washington Post as Binay Kumar Sarkar, told the newspaper that his team serves three meals a day to passengers' rooms.
A constant fear, though, is "who will be next."
Sarkar, 31, made a public appeal on Facebook, saying that those who are healthy should be allowed to disembark before they, too, contract the coronavirus.
"Day by day [it's] spreading ... rapidly," he wrote, and "and risking everyone's [lives]."
Being trapped on the ship is fanning fears that "very soon we will all be infected," he told The Post.
The Diamond Princess' 14-day quarantine is set to last another week.
The ship, which is docked off Yokohama, has been placed under a 14-day quarantine that will last until next week. Those who have tested positive for the coronavirus have been taken off the ship for treatment.
The Diamond Princess hosts the highest concentration of coronavirus cases outside of China, where the outbreak began, The New York Times reported. People who are still cooped up on the ship have described going "stir-crazy."
Sarkar did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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