Coronavirus LIVE: Plane of Britons from cruise ship lands in UK but 40 MISSING from flight
HALF of the Britons on board the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship did not get on the evacuation flight back to the UK on Friday night.
By DAN FALVEY
Express.co.uk
Sat, Feb 22, 2020
Just 32 of the 78 UK citizens who spent more than two weeks trapped on the cruise ship in Japan boarded the repatriation flight which is due to land this morning. Four Britons who tested positive for the deadly virus are being treated in Japanese hospitals.
But other UK citizens are thought to have made their own way off the ship after becoming frustrated at the Government’s slow response.
It comes after passengers were trapped on the coronavirus-hit cruise liner in the port of Yokohama for two weeks.
A total of 634 passengers and crew have been infected with the killer bug, accounting for more than half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases outside of China.
Saturday February 22
2.10pm update: ‘Distressed’ Coronavirus victims stuck in ‘prison’ like conditions
Britons David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, have told their son of the horrific conditions they are living in while being treated for Covid-19.
The couple were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship when they became infected by the deadly virus and were transferred to hospitals in JJapan for treatment.
However, they have now told their son of their anguish at being kept in conditions similar to a “prison”.
After speaking with his parents, Stephen said: “We tracked them down to the other hospital and they are both in a really bad way. They are distressed.
“His exact words to me were ‘we can’t take any more of this, it’s like a prison. ‘We don’t have shower facilities or a bathroom, we have a small room with a little toilet’.”
1.20pm update: Diamond Princess passengers on their way up north
Those who landed at Ministry of Defence base Boscombe Down in Wiltshire earlier today are now making their way up the motorway to Arrowe Park hospital on Wirral.
The passengers must spend two weeks in quarantine before they can return home.
The journey to Arrowe Park hospital is expected to take approximately four hours.
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