Coronavirus news latest: Brits evacuated from Diamond Princess cruise ship arrive back in UK

Dozens of Brits who were trapped on board a coronavirus-hit cruise ship have arrived back in the UK.

Some 32 British and European passengers who were on board the Diamond Princess in Japan landed in Boscombe Down, a Ministry of Defence base in Wiltshire, on Saturday.

The cruise ship was quarantined in Yokohama 16 days ago and has seen the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases after China.

There have already been more than 630 cases of coronavirus confirmed among the Diamond Princess passengers and two deaths. There were 3,700 passengers on board.

In a statement issued after the plane landed, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We have brought 32 British and European citizens safely home from Japan.

“The FCO worked hard to get them back to the UK securely. Our number one priority has consistently been the health and safety of UK nationals.”

It is unclear where the small number of EU citizens will be taken following the plane landing in the UK.

The Foreign Office confirmed on Friday evening that the evacuation flight, which was also carrying British government and medical staff, had departed from Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Passengers on board, who have so far tested negative for coronavirus, will now be taken by road to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral for 14 days of quarantine to protect against the spread of the illness should any of them be infected.

The evacuees have spent more than two weeks trapped on the coronavirus-stricken ship off the coast of Japan.

The four Britons on board the Diamond Princess who have tested positive for coronavirus were not on the flight.

Arrowe Park was previously used to host 83 British nationals for a 14-day quarantine period earlier in February after they were flown out of Wuhan in China, which has been at the centre of the outbreak.

Before the flight, 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 wife Wendy.

“Wendy’s test was negative so Butlins the Wirral here we come for 14 days,” Mr Steele posted on Facebook.

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.

It is understood some British nationals who are part of the Diamond Princess crew opted to remain.

One British couple on board who were diagnosed with coronavirus have both since been diagnosed with pneumonia.

The family of David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, said they have now been moved to a “prison”-like hospital.

The couple were on the cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary when it was placed into quarantine.

Mr Abel has been diagnosed with acute pneumonia, while Mrs Abel has a mild case.

Although they were originally in a hospital just 90 minutes from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, Mrs Abel called her son in the middle of the night to say the couple were suddenly being moved to a different “three-star” hospital.

Steve Abel, their son, posted video updates on the couple’s YouTube channel alongside his wife Roberta on Friday night and Saturday morning.

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

All have tested negative after one case was diagnosed on board.

In order to help combat the spread of the virus in the UK, the NHS has started pilots of home testing for coronavirus where NHS staff, including nurses and paramedics, will visit people in their own homes.

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