They’ve taken Alan away! Anguish of cruise ship bride
A BRITISH nurse who should have been enjoying a luxury honeymoon cruise told yesterday of her anguish at seeing her husband taken to hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.
Wendy Steele, 51, said she was ‘in ribbons’ after Alan, her 58-year-old husband of just one month, was taken off the Diamond Princess, which is quarantined off the coast of Japan.
‘I am bereft... if he ends up being ill I can’t look after him,’ she said. ‘Not only as a wife... but as a nurse.’
Mr Steele was one of 41 passengers out of 3,700 on board the infected ship to test positive yesterday, taking the total to 61.
Spelling out her heartache in a Facebook post, Mrs Steele, from Wolverhampton, wrote: ‘They have just taken Alan away. I am in ribbons. He is healthy and not displaying any symptoms.
‘Not sure how long it will be until I see him again. Counting down the days until I can laugh with my husband again.’
Mr Steele posted: ‘I have been diagnosed as having the virus and am being shipped to hospital. Would also like to say that at the moment I am not showing any symptoms
so just possibly a carrier.’ Passengers on board the Diamond Princess have been confined to their cabins for three days after an 80-year-old man fell ill with coronavirus after disembarking.
According to the Foreign Office, 78 British passport holders are on board.
The Japanese authorities say the ship’s quarantine period is due to end on February 19 – but that could be extended if there are ‘unforeseen developments’.
Operator Princess Cruises said it had arranged for food and medication to be delivered to passengers, as well as games and puzzles. ‘We understand and empathize with the frustration of many of our guests, crew, and their families across the world during this ever-evolving situation,’ it said. It stressed that the tests were being carried out by the Japanese authorities.
Another Briton on board, Elaine Spencer, 54, said passengers were ‘coping’.
She said: ‘The only time we’re allowed out of the cabin is for an hour-and-a-half when we can go onto the deck. But we have to wear a face mask and gloves and we can’t go within a metre of other passengers.’
The Foreign Office is in touch with the Japanese authorities but says it is letting Princess Cruises take the lead.