Brits stranded on cruise on which 21 are infected
MORE than 140 Britons are stranded on board cruise ship off California on which 21 passengers yesterday tested positive for coronavirus.
The Grand Princess was banned from docking in the US following the deaths of two guests after they left.
US Vice President Mike Pence said 19 employees and two passengers had the bug out of 46 tested.
He added that all on board would now be brought into port and tested over the weekend.
The ship was on a two-week trip from San Francisco to Hawaii but its voyage was suspended when it emerged the first person to die of the virus in California had been on board.
Its 121 British passengers and 21 UK crew are among the 3,533 people on board from 54 different countries.
The California Air National Guard dropped off test kits by helicopter.
Operator Carnival Corp said people identified for testing had been asked to stay in their rooms “out of an abundance of caution”.
The captain had also asked guests to stay 6ft from each other.
Passengers have seen a gradual shutdown on board the ship, starting with the food buffet. The gym, bar, casino and boutiques were closed.
Passenger Kathleen Reid, 67, from Texas, said: “My first reaction was, ‘We’re going to get sick.’
“We don’t know what’s happening, so we’re just kind of in limbo, waiting.”
The ship made a round trip from San Francisco to Mexico last month.
A 71-year-old man died two weeks after his return home to California, health officials said. He had underlying health conditions.
A man of 72 also died after leaving the ship, though it has not been confirmed if he had the virus.
The Grand Princess is from the same line as the Diamond Princess, which saw one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks outside China.
Six people died, including a British man, and more than 700 people on board tested positive for Covid-19 during its two-week quarantine in Yokohama, Japan, last month.
Mr Pence was yesterday seen greeting a woman by touching arms, not hands, at Washington’s Emergency Operations Center.