Police probe ‘Chinese’ race abuse outrages
A BRITISH honeymoon couple are struggling to cope after being split up when the husband tested positive for coronavirus.
Alan Steele revealed he had the killer bug on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is quarantined off Yokohama Bay, near Tokyo.
The 58-year-old driver is one of 3,000 passengers under 14-day lock-down and was taken off the ship to be monitored in hospital.
He and wife Wendy, a nurse, had been confined to their cabin and were shocked when Alan’s test came back positive.
Wendy had begged to be taken ashore so they would not be split up but she remains on board the luxury liner.
Writing on Facebook, she said: “They have just taken Alan away. I am in ribbons. He is healthy and not displaying any symptoms. I am bereft. If he ends up
TARGETED Chunkit Pang being ill, I can’t look after him. Not only as a wife but as a nurse.”
Alan wrote to his family and friends on Facebook: “I have been diagnosed as having the virus and am being shipped to hospital.
“Would also like to say at the moment I am not showing any symptoms.
Will let you know how I am going on when possible.”
Princess Cruises said 61 people, including Alan, had tested positive. Most passengers are confined to their cabins, although those in inside, windowless cabins have been allowed on to open desks briefly.
The Steeles, of Wolverhampton, flew from Birmingham to Tokyo on January 18, days after getting married. They were due to travel back to the UK so Mr Steele could start a new job on Monday. Before
POLICE are investigating a series of racist incidents linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
Three people in the UK have tested positive for the illness, two in York and one in Brighton.
Now North Yorkshire Police have received reports of racial slurs against those of Chinese
they were split up, they had been posting updates while going “stir crazy” in their cabin. Wendy, who will turn 52 on Tuesday, posted: “Had enough now of solitary confinement. I have demanded that they test me. I WILL NOT be separated from Alan.”
Fellow passenger David Abel, who had been dining with Alan before the lockdown, said: “I have no idea how he must be feeling. He has gone to a medical facility and she has to stay on board as she’s not displaying symptoms. That’s really tough.”
There are 78 people with British passports – including crew – on the Diamond Princess. There are no plans to fly anyone back to the UK.
Princess Cruises said the quarantine on the ship is due to end on February 19,
DAVID ABEL FELLOW PASSENGER ON SHIP descent in York and nearby towns. British national Chunkit Jay Pang was abused in his home town of Selby, the BBC reported.
Mr Pang said two children had hurled a racist term at him, adding he had “got coronavirus, stay away from him”. His father suffered similar barring “unforeseen developments”. Another ship in Hong Kong, the World Dream, has 66 Brits on board. Nobody on that ship has yet tested positive.
The global death toll from coronavirus rose to 638 yesterday, with confirmed cases rising to 31,535. At least 260 cases have been recorded outside China.
The third evacuation flight of Brits out of Wuhan will take place tonight or early tomorrow. Passengers will be held for 14 days at an NHS facility in Milton Keynes.
Alan is one of four Brits to be diagnosed, including a man in Brighton, East Sussex, who apparently caught the bug during a trip to Singapore, and two people in York. The Brighton man was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in Central London on Thursday.
■ The outbreak could have spread from bats to humans via the illegal traffic of pangolins, Chinese scientists have said.
Wendy has to stay on board as she has no symptoms. It’s so tough
abuse from patients as he sat in a doctor’s waiting room, Mr Pang said.
University of York students have also reported being abused online and in person.
The Students’ Union said: “We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms.”