British couple on cruise fear they tested positive for coronavirus
TWO British passengers aboard a quarantined cruise ship appear to have tested positive for coronavirus, it emerged yesterday.
David Abel, who has been aboard the Diamond Princess moored near Tokyo with his wife, Sally, said on Facebook: “There is going to be a time of quiet.
“We have been proved positive and leaving for hospital soon. Blessings all xxx”
However, in a subsequent post, Mr Abel, of Northamptonshire, seemed to question the positive findings, saying: “Frankly I think this is a set-up! We are not being taken to a hospital but a hostel. That’s where partners are sent waiting out their quarantine. No phone, no wi-fi and no medical facilities. I really am smelling a very big rat here!”
Steve Abel, the couple’s son, who has described the Government’s treatment of his parents as “appalling”, said: “They are very high-spirited people.”
But he added: “There are cracks in the armour and they are getting down.”
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: “My mum breaks down in tears frequently, my dad is short-tempered.
“They are not getting any communication from our country, so they are in the dark and feeling very unloved.”
Mr Abel said the conditions on the quarantined cruise ship were making it difficult for his father to manage his diabetes and that he was also suffering from a tooth infection.
He added he could hear his father vomiting in the bathroom the last time he spoke to his mother on the phone, but believed it might be due to “shock” rather than a symptom of the disease.
“The quarantine in Japan has been a failure, that is obvious, so (my parents) are obviously going to have to go through it again,” Mr Abel said.
“I would like them to go through it here, where the food is more suitable for my dad. I’m not that worried about the virus, looking at the recovery stats. It is more about the stress, the diet.”
When asked about the Government’s treatment of his parents, Mr Abel described it as “appalling”.
“They haven’t done anything,” he said. “They aren’t communicating with us, the Foreign Office have my number, my wife’s number, my brother’s number, my sister’s number and they haven’t got back to us on anything and we have been calling them every day for four or five days.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), meanwhile, said the Government was “working to organise” a flight to repatriate British nationals on board the cruise ship.
“Given the conditions on board, we are working to organise a flight back to the UK for British nationals on the Diamond Princess as soon as possible,” a statement from the department said.
“Our staff are contacting British nationals on board to make the necessary arrangements. We urge all those who have not yet responded to get in touch immediately.”
The Foreign Office said on Monday that four Britons from the ship had been confirmed with coronavirus. A confirmed diagnosis for Mr and Mrs Abel would put the total number of Britons diagnosed from the ship at six.
Reports from Japan said there are 88 more cases on board the Diamond Princess as yesterday, bringing the total to 542.
The FCO has faced pressure to fly home the 74 Britons on the vessel after the US chartered two planes and repatriated 340 of its citizens.
In an updated statement, a spokesman for the FCO said: “We have the utmost concern for the British people currently on the cruise ship. We are ensuring those who have been diagnosed with
They are in the dark and feeling very unloved
coronavirus receive the best possible care in Japan and are organising a flight back to the UK for other British nationals on the Diamond Princess as soon as possible.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also spoken with the President of China about the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, Britons are being tested for coronavirus in Cambodia after leaving a cruise ship where an elderly woman was diagnosed with the illness, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
Passengers disembarked from the Holland America Westerdam ship on Friday and hundreds have undergone testing for the virus. As of yesterday afternoon, 4,916 people in total have been tested for Covid-19 in the UK, of which nine have come back positive.
The death toll in mainland China rose by 98 to 1,868 yesterday while the number of people infected globally is 72,436, said the country’s National Health Commission.