AKIPRESS.COM - Passengers aboard a virus-hit cruise liner in California have begun disembarking after being kept off the coast of San Francisco for five days, BBC reports.

Nineteen crew members and two passengers on the Grand Princess have tested positive for Covid-19.

The vessel carrying 3,500 people from 54 countries, has docked in Oakland.

The US State Department reported that two citizens of Kyrgyzstan are on board of cruise ship, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said on March 9.

The embassy contacted the Kyrgyz citizens and they noted that they are OK, the ship crew provides them with 3-time meals and all the passengers are kept in cabins.

The number of infections worldwide is more than 109,000, with about 3,800 deaths.