NI singer tells of relief after leaving coronavirus cruise ship to ‘unwind’ in Australia
NORTHERN Irish singer Rebecca Harkin has told how she had finally left a cruise ship at the centre of the coronavirus crisis — and is set to spend two weeks “unwinding” in Australia.
Musician Rebecca, who had been on board The Diamond Princess as part of the entertainment crew, said she and her partner had been taken off the ship, and thanked fans for their support.
Four of the cruise ship passengers flown to England this weekend tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 13.
Almost one-fifth of the 3,711 passengers originally on board the cruise liner have been infected.
Japan’s health ministry announced yesterday that one of the passengers taken to hospital after testing positive for the virus has died.
The death of the Japanese man, who was in his 80s, brings the number of fatalities from the Diamond Princess to three.
In a post on her official Facebook fan page, Ms Harkin said: “I am now in Australia with my partner and we are both healthy and safe, thank God!”
The singer, who is in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, thanked fans for their “lovely messages and prayers” adding: “As many of youknewmypartnerandIwere musicians on board the Diamond Princess ship in Japan. We are getting so well looked after in Darwin along with all the other evacuees.”
The Diamond Princess cruise ship arrived off the coast of Japan on February 3 when it emerged that a former passenger had been diagnosed with coronavirus.
More than 600 passengers have since been infected with the virus, accounting for more than half of all confirmed cases outside China.
Rebecca, who is from Londonderry but lives in Donegal, said the team were “caring, friendly and understanding”.
“I cannot thank them enough,” she said.
“For now, it’s two weeks of sunshine and unwinding after the crisis. Again we are so glad to be here. Big love to you all who checked in on us and continue to do so.”
The four latest UK cases — confirmed to be British nationals — have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres.
These are the first diagnoses of the Covid-19 strain in people brought back to the UK on repatriation flights.
They had been among a group of 30 Britons and two Irish citizens who arrived at a quarantine block at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside on Saturday.
England’s chief medical officer said the virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had been held for more than two weeks off the coast of Japan.
Professor Chris Whitty said: “Four further patients in England have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 13.
“The virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the patients are being transferred from Arrowe Park to specialist NHS infection centres.”
EU countries have been told to be on alert for possible cases of the new coronavirus in the coming days.
The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) — overseeing how the killer virus is managed in the EU — said yesterday that more cases are expected in Italy, and “possibly in the EU” in the coming days.
Three pensioners in Italy died from the virus over the weekend while more than 150 cases were confirmed.
Austria has halted all train traffic to and from Italy following fears that a train had two people on board who may have been infected with the Covid-19 virus, authorities said.
The train was stopped at the Brenner crossing on the Italian side on Sunday night, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said. The train from Venice was on its way to Munich.
Mainland China reported 648 new infections yesterday, bringing the total to 76,936, and 97 deaths — a slight decrease on the daily death toll — bringing total fatalities to 2,442.