The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Four cruise ship passengers test positive for coronavirus
OUTBREAK: Total number of confirmed cases in UK reaches 13
Four cruise ship passengers flown to England this weekend have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 13.
The four have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres.
They had been among a group of 30 British nationals 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.”
The Department of Health said a “full infectious disease risk assessment” was done before Saturday’s repatriation flight and that no one who boarded the flight had displayed any symptoms of the virus.
Evacuees released from a two-week coronavirus quarantine centre have described the experience as “hard” but praised staff for looking after them.
More than 100 people flown out of the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak were leaving a UK training centre yesterday for the first time in 14 days.
One man said it was a “fantastic” feeling to be released from Kents Hill Park training and conference centre in Milton Keynes.
Some 118 people were being released, with guests holding backpacks and suitcases pictured getting taxis.