The coronavirus stricken cruise ship Diamond Princess, is set to sail again in April after a major cleaning.
As reported by CNN, the 116,000 tonne vessel will undergo a 'full sanitation process' before it resumes service.
Over 600 cases of coronavirus have been linked to the cruise ship with over 2,600 passengers and 1,045 crew on board when the ship was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan earlier this month.
Once remaining passengers and crew are off, it will undergo a deep cleaning before spending time in a dry dock, Carnival Corp spokesperson Negin Kamali told CNN.
The planned trip will begin on April 29, at the start of Japan's Golden Week celebrations after the virus outbreak cancelled bookings through until April 20.
According to the average life cycle of a cruise ship, Diamond Princess still has at least 15 years of sailing left and it isn't unusual for a cruise liner struck with illness to return to service.
Editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, Colleen McDaniel says it is normal protocol for a ship to undergo thorough sanitation after any reported illness.
"Generally, that cleaning doesn't take longer than a day, so this is certainly more extensive than usual. Cruise lines always put passenger safety first, so you can be certain the decision on when Diamond Princess could return to service wasn't made lightly."
Mr Kamali says the ship will be fully sanitised by a cleaning company with expertise in this area, as well as following the direction of the United States Centres for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation.
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