TOKYO: An additional 79 cases of coronavirus have been discovered aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, the health ministry said Wednesday, bringing the total to 621.

The new figures come as an initial batch of passengers began disembarking after enduring a 14-day quarantine and then testing negative for the virus.

he death toll from the coronavirus in mainland China passed 2,000 but the number of new cases there fell for a second straight day, offering a sliver of hope and helping Asian shares and U.S. stock futures rise.

China, the world's second-largest economy, is struggling to get its manufacturing sector back on track after imposing severe travel restrictions to contain a virus that emerged in the central province of Hubei late last year.

In Japan, hundreds of people disembarked from the British-flagged Diamond Princess cruise liner docked at Yokohama near Tokyo, ending an ordeal that began when the ship was quarantined on Feb. 3 after a former passenger was diagnosed with the virus in Hong Kong.

AFP/Reuters