SINGAPORE - Five Singaporeans quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, have been allowed to disembark from the ship.

They have decided to remain in Japan for 14 days before returning to Singapore, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Friday (Feb 21).

"The Singaporeans will be quarantined if they return to Singapore within 14 days from the date of their disembarkation as an additional precautionary measure according to our current public health protocol," said an MFA spokesman.

The MFA said that the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo will continue to provide help to the five Singaporeans.

The ministry also thanked the Japanese government for its help rendered to the Singaporeans during the quarantine.

More than 600 passengers have tested positive for the Covid-19 disease. This makes the ship, which has been docked off the coast of Japan since Feb 3, the largest single cluster outside of China.

The World Health Organisation has said that the cases on the Diamond Princess are "cases on an international conveyance" and should not count in Japan's total.

Two Japanese passengers in their 80s have died from the coronavirus, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.

They died in hospital, where they had been receiving treatment since being moved from the ship on Feb 11 and 12, NHK said.

The Diamond Princess had arrived in Yokohama a day earlier than scheduled with about 3,700 guests and crew on board, and was put under a two-week quarantine on Feb 5. The first 10 cases aboard were confirmed the same day.

Those who tested positive during screenings by Japanese officials were moved ashore for treatment.

Some 440 passengers have been allowed to leave the ship as of Wednesday as quarantine operations began to wind down.