The development came as the Japanese health ministry said an additional 88 people have tested positive for coronavirus on the ship.

The new cases came from a total of 681 fresh results, the ministry said, taking the total number of positive cases on the Diamond Princess to 542.

On Tuesday Israel’s consul to Japan Revital Ben Naim and Israeli infectious disease expert Ran Nir-Paz visited the two military hospitals where the infected Israelis are being treated as they are kept in isolation — a couple at one location and a man at another — and spoke with them by phone, the ministry said in a statement.

The Health Ministry sent Nir-Paz, of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, to Japan to check up on the infected Israelis.

Health Ministry Deputy Director General Itamar Grotto and Israel’s Ambassador to Japan Yaffa Ben-Ari met in Tokyo on Monday with Japanese health officials in order to discuss the evacuation of Israeli nationals from the ship, the ministry said at the time.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman instructed the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer to prepare to take the Israelis into quarantine upon their arrival in the country. They will be kept in a separate unit and monitored by medical staff assigned solely for that purpose, the ministry added.