Britons on way home from ship in virus outbreak

SOME 35 British nationals were on their way home last night after spending more than two weeks trapped on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship in Japan.

A repatriation flight took off from Haneda airport in Tokyo, with a small number of EU citizens and UK government medics also on board, sources said.

The passengers quarantined on board the Diamond Princess were due to land at Boscombe Down Ministry of Defence base, near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Only those without symptoms were allowed to board the plane, and all the passengers will be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral for a further 14 days of quarantine.

One passenger, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 and has since been given the all-clear, joked that the experience would be like visiting a holiday camp.

Honeymooner Alan Steele was taken to a Japanese hospital and has since tested negative for the virus and been reunited with his wife, Wendy.“Wendy’s test was negative, so Butlin’s the Wirral here we come for 14 days,” Mr Steele said on Facebook.

Elaine Spencer, from Sittingbourne in Kent, is among those who were trapped on the ship. She said she was “relieved” to be coming home, but when asked how the Foreign Office had handled their repatriation, she replied: “Slowly”.

Since being kept on board the cruise liner in the port of Yokohama, a total of 634 passengers and crew have been infected, accounting for more than half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases outside of China.

David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, who are among the four Britons on board to have tested positive for coronavirus, are being treated in a Japanese hospital after spending days shut in their cabin.

In a Facebook post, Mr Abel said he and his wife were “in the best place” and said the couple

will need to test negative for Covid-19 three times after treatment.

“See you all before you know it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Britons in Cambodia who left another cruise ship, the Westerdam, and who have been cleared for travel are being assisted by the Foreign Office to make their way home.

The group are receiving health advice and being helped with commercial flight bookings. All have tested negative after one case was diagnosed on board.

It is unclear how many Britons are returning and whether some British passengers had already returned.

Public Health England said airport health teams would meet the flights and speak to Westerdam passengers about any symptoms. If they have none, they will be given health advice and told to self-isolate at home for 14 days. Otherwise, they will be taken to hospital for testing.

As of Thursday afternoon, a total of 5,549 people in the UK have been tested for coronavirus, of whom nine have proved positive.