Brits on coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship to be flown home on Friday before 14-day quarantine

A rescue flight for Britons on a cruise ship plagued by coronavirus will leave Japan tomorrow, the Government announced today.

About 70 British passengers who have been stranded on the quarantined Diamond Princess will depart Tokyo late on Friday evening and arrive back in the UK in the early hours of Saturday.

Those who are repatriated face another 14-day quarantine upon arrival in the UK after being stranded on the ship at a port near Tokyo since February 3.

Passengers had been urged to stay on board the vessel while a chartered plane was arranged, despite authorities allowing them to depart on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed plans for the UK’s latest rescue mission as medics said that two elderly Japanese passengers who were taken off the ship after being diagnosed with coronavirus last week had died.

Mr Raab said: “We urge other British nationals still seeking to leave to contact us. We will continue to support British nationals who wish to stay in Japan.”

At least 621 passengers on the ship have contracted the virus, the greatest concentration outside mainland China.

Only Britons who pass a medical check will be allowed to board the government-chartered flight, which will touch down at Boscombe Down, an airfield run by the RAF north of Salisbury, Wiltshire.

They will then spend two weeks in NHS quarantine at Arrowe Park hospital in the Wirral.

There were 78 Britons on the ship when the virus was detected. Four British cases have since been confirmed by the Foreign Office.

Anyone who develops symptoms during the flight to the UK will be taken to hospital, while it is understood any pre-existing cases will be treated in Japan.

Around 500 passengers have left the Diamond Princess after a two-week quarantine that failed to stop the spread of coronavirus among passengers.

Alan Sandford, who was quarantined with wife Vanessa in their cabin for 17 days, told Sky News: “We have just been told that the flight is coming for us tomorrow afternoon and we will be taking off hopefully tomorrow night. We are very happy about that.

“We have been tested for the coronavirus with a throat swab test. We have got a certificate to say that is negative.”

Alan Steele, the honeymooner who was the first Briton to be diagnosed with coronavirus on the ship but who has since been released from hospital in Japan, said the prospect of spending another fortnight in quarantine was “pretty sickening”.

He described efforts to contain the spread of the virus on the ship as “a joke”.

Mr Steele, who was kept apart from his new wife Wendy, said: “The quarantine people and the crew actually spread it. I’m not saying they started it. I think they exacerbated the problem.”

David Abel and his wife Sally will miss the flight after being admitted to a Tokyo hospital with the virus. Mr Abel said they were “thinking of all the Brits flying to UK tomorrow”.

'I nearly passed out on way to hospital

British cruise passenger David Abel was wheeled into hospital after almost passing out as he was taken off the stricken Diamond Princess.

Mr Abel and wife Sally, who have posted regular updates from the ship on social media, had tested positive for coronavirus. He said on Facebook today that they had been admitted to a hospital. “I came over a bit weird and nearly passed out,” he wrote. “I was wheelchaired to our room.”

He posted photos of the pair being checked, adding: “Following treatments we require two days of all-clear tests then we go for another big third round of tests.”

It means they will not be able to board tomorrow’s rescue flight.

Only healthy passengers with no symptoms of the virus will have a seat on the plane, with all to spend 14 days at the Wirral, it is understood.

Anyone testing positive for coronavirus or assessed by medical staff as too unwell to travel from Japan will not be allowed to board the UK flight and will be transferred to hospital for treatment.

Passengers were yesterday allowed to begin leaving the ship but authorities said it could take several days for all 3,700 to disembark.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has announced the EU will be financing the repatriation of citizens from any of the EU27 still stuck on the vessel.

As of 2pm on Wednesday, a total of 5,216 people in the UK had been tested for coronavirus, of whom nine had tested positive.

There were reports yesterday that the number of new cases in China had fallen dramatically to 394.

There have been more than 2,000 deaths and nearly 75,000 confirmed infections of the virus, according to Chinese officials.

However officials and analysts have warned that the threat of a more serious outbreak remains as people gradually return to work following a prolonged Lunar New Year holiday.

While the overall spread of the virus has been slowing, the situation remains severe in Hubei province where the virus is thought to have originated.

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