We are coming home! Brits FINALLY leave the coronavirus-riddled Diamond Princess after days of delays but only HALF of the 74 UK nationals trapped on cruise ship will be on evacuation flight to the UK as officials admit some have refused to get on plane
- Group of just 35 people will get on British airlift tonight and sources say ‘handful’ of them are EU citizens
- Many Brits already made their own way to other countries on separate rescue planes earlier in the week
- They had been fed up waiting to be rescued by the UK Government, which was slammed for being so slow
- Rescue flight scheduled to depart at around 5am local time (8pm GMT) and is set for military base in Wiltshire
- More than 76,000 cases of the coronavirus have been recorded worldwide and 2,250 patients have died
- Have a coronavirus story? Email connor.boyd@mailonline.co.uk or call 0203 615 0203
Dozens of Britons trapped onboard the coronavirus-riddled Diamond Princess cruise are finally being rescued and taken to the airport on coaches for an evacuation flight after almost 20 days trapped on the doomed vessel.
Officials in hazmat suits and face masks waited at the port to meet the Brits as they left the ship, two hours later than originally planned, and got on buses to take them to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
But MailOnline understands fewer than half of the 78 Britons who were originally onboard the luxurious cruise will be airlifted to MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire tonight and then quarantined for two weeks on the Wirral.
Government sources say only 35 passengers, including a handful of EU nationals, are expected to be flown back to Britain at around 5am local time (8pm). It was originally scheduled to leave this evening, local time.
Four infected Brits are in hospital, while a handful of family members are thought to have refused the evacuation to be with their loved ones.
Many have already been airlifted to other countries where they live after becoming fed up of waiting on the UK Government to rescue them.
Ministers have been repeatedly blasted for its dire handling of the planned evacuation, with eight countries having already managed an airlift – including the US who flew home 300 residents on February 16 and 17.
Brits trapped on the cruise – which has been docked off the coast of Yokohama since February 3 – accused Number of 10 of abandoning them, saying their treatment had been ‘pretty bad’ and the repatriation effort ‘slow’.
One honeymooner who caught SARS-CoV-2 – 58-year-old Alan Steele from Wolverhampton – has since shifted the virus and been reunited with his wife Wendy. He joked on Facebook: ‘Butlins the Wirral here we come for 14 days.’
More than 76,000 cases of the killer coronavirus have been recorded worldwide, including at least 630 on the Diamond Princess. Almost 2,250 patients have died, two of whom were elderly Japanese passengers on the ship.
British passengers wave from the window of the bus after they left the coronavirus-hit cruise ship off Japan after being stranded for almost 20 days
A group of just 35 people will get on the British-organised airlift tonight and sources say a ‘handful’ of them are EU citizens
Many Brits already made their own way to other countries and territories on separate rescue planes earlier in the week because they were fed up waiting on the a UK airlift (the bus carrying the remaining Brits leaves for the airport)
A British passenger gets on a bus after leaving the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess, which is docked at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama
MailOnline understands the flight is scheduled to depart at around 5am local time (8pm), after UK officials announced a delay of several hours because they had not yet finalised a concrete plan
An official in protective suits checks the temperature of passengers who disembarked from the quarantined Diamond Princes
The Diamond Princess has been moored in Yokohama since February 3, and more than 630 passengers on the gigantic vessel have caught the coronavirus
It means the group of Brits – 74 were known to be onboard before passengers were allowed to disembark – will have spend at least a month in isolation, after almost 21 days stranded on the ship off the coast of Yokohama.
Fewer than 50 British people are thought to be on the repatriation flight from Japan to the UK, meaning at least 20 may have already disembarked or been deemed to sick to travel. Other EU nationals are also expected to be on the flight.
Foreign Office officials have confirmed Brits will not be allowed on the flight if they are unwell. All of those wanting to be repatriated were told it would take several hours to reach the airport – even though it is just a 20-minute drive away.
The UK Government has been repeatedly blasted for its dire handling of the planned evacuation, with eight countries having already managed an airlift – including the US who flew home 300 residents on two planes on February 16 and 17.
A bus at Trenton air force base in Quinte West, Ontario, transports Canadian passengers who were rescued from the Diamond Princess cruise ship
Canadian passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess are pictured getting on a bus after landing at an air force base in Ontario
The Foreign Office urged all Brits to stay onboard the Diamond Princess if they want to get on the evacuation flight.
But all passengers were free to leave. Any Brit who got off the flight and plans to take a commercial flight home will still have to do two weeks in quarantine.
UK officials have yet to confirm how many passengers will fly home, but MailOnline understands ministers never expected all 74 to get on board.
Sources also say the Government is planning to evacuate other EU nationals still on board – but no official plans have been confirmed.
Furious Brits trapped on the Diamond Princess have accused ministers of ‘forgetting’ about them because it has taken so long to organise a rescue flight.
Leading scientists have also warned the cruise is an ideal breeding ground for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Experts described the ship’s quarantine as a ‘major failure’.
More than 2,000 people have left ship already – including more than 1,000 who have been allowed to disembark and go back to their normal lives.
It means the Brits waiting to be rescued from the virus-ridden cruise will be among the last passengers to leave.
Officials this morning announced the evacuation flight had been delayed by at least six hours because it was logistically ‘complicated’.
The British embassy in Tokyo said it was ‘working around the clock to ensure British nationals can be evacuated as quickly and smoothly as possible’.
Alan Steele, from Wolverhampton, yesterday blasted the Foreign Office for abandoning Britons on the virus-ridden ship after half a dozen countries rescued their citizens before the UK.
In a scathing attack on the UK Government, Mr Steele accused ministers of ‘treating us badly’ and added: ’74 Brits, what the hell do they matter?’
Mr Steele, 58, who was on his honeymoon on the cruise, was forced to leave his new wife Wendy behind on the vessel when he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on February 7 and was whisked into isolation in a Japanese hospital.
He said Wendy was ‘struggling’ on her own on the Diamond Princess and likened his experience in a foreign infectious diseases ward to ‘solitary confinement in prison’.
The lorry driver revealed today his wife tested negative and joked that they’d be going to ‘Butlins, the Wirral’ for 14 days – a reference to being quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside.
Alan Steele, from Wolverhampton, was on his honeymoon with his wife, Wendy, when the coronavirus outbreak broke out on the Diamond Princess cruise ship
He said Wendy was ‘struggling’ on the Diamond Princess on her own and blasted the Foreign Office for ‘forgetting’ about them
The Diamond Princess has been moored in Yokohama since February 3, and more than 630 passengers on the gigantic vessel have caught the coronavirus.
The Diamond Princess was carrying more than 3,700 people in early February when 10 passengers were diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Since being quarantined in the port of Yokohama, a total of 634 passengers and crew have been infected – the equivalent of one in six onboard being struck down.
It means the ship has recorded almost half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases outside of China – where 98 per cent of infections have been recorded.
Passengers who have tested negative for the coronavirus began disembarking from the Diamond Princess ship on Wednesday – when the official quarantine ended.
Once passengers have left the ship, they will be permitted to travel freely, health officials have said.
The average incubation period for coronavirus is a fortnight – so anyone who does not show symptoms in that time is unlikely to have it.
It came despite mounting evidence from infectious disease experts they could unknowingly be carrying the virus back into their communities.
Although given the all-clear in Japan, those on Saturday’s evacuation flight will be taken straight to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral for 14 days of quarantine.
David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, have been documenting their time on the quarantined ship on Facebook.
The couple are now being treated in a Japanese hospital after days shut in their cabin following their diagnosis.
Mr Steele joked that they’d be going to ‘Butlins, the Wirral’ for 14 days – a reference to being quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside for a fortnight
In another post, Mr Abel said: ‘We arrived in lovely hospital a couple of hours ago. Taken by ambulance blues & twos the entire journey… Last communication so please don’t worry about not hearing from us: See you all before you know it’
David Abel, one of the Brits on board the Diamond Princess who begged the Government to rescue them, posted a picture of himself in a Japanese hostel today while getting treated by medics on Facebook today
He posted a picture of his wife, Sally, also getting treated. Mrs Abel was also taken off the cruise after she tested positive
He described collapsing at a Japanese hospital and being put in a wheelchair after he became one of 634 people to catch coronavirus on the vessel.
In a Facebook post documenting his ordeal with coronavirus, Mr Abel said: ‘We arrived in lovely hospital a couple of hours ago.
‘Taken by ambulance blues and twos the entire journey. Outside the hospital I came over a bit weird and nearly passed out.
‘Every pore on my body opened and I was wheelchaired to our room. Full health inspection and now we know what’s going on.’
Mr Abel revealed both he and his wife have also caught a cold and would have chest X-rays and urine tests.
But he added: ‘We are both in the best place! They do know what they are doing and our two nurses are gorgeous. Sally likes the Dr too.’
The couple, who were sharing a room in hospital yesterday, will need to test negative three times before they are released.
Mr Abel added: ‘Wi-Fi will not work for me, so this will be the final communication for some time. See you all before you know it.’
In further posts, he revealed the couple were ‘thinking of all the Brits flying to UK tomorrow’.
Mr and Mrs Abel’s son today told MailOnline he couldn’t get hold of his parents after they were taken to a different hospital overnight.
Mrs Abel called Stephen in distress at 1am to say the couple were moved to a unit ‘more suitable’ to their needs.
Meanwhile, Britons in Cambodia who left another cruise ship, the Westerdam, and who have been cleared for travel are being assisted by the Foreign Office to make their way home.
The group are receiving health advice and being helped with commercial flight bookings. All have tested negative after one case was diagnosed on board.
The number of Britons in the group has not been disclosed, and it is unclear whether some have already come back to the UK.
Public Health England (PHE) said airport health teams would meet the flights and speak to Westerdam passengers about any symptoms.
Passengers wave from a bus transporting Hong Kong passengers from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess
Workers in protective clothes measures the body temperature of a passenger disembarking from the Diamond Princess cruise ship
Revealed: The Diamond Princess has 13 decks and is 290m long. It had 3,700 people on board – including 1,000 crew members – when it began the 14-day quarantine
If they do not have symptoms, passengers will be given health advice and told to self-isolate at home for 14 days but, if they have symptoms, they will be taken to hospital for testing.
As of 2pm on Thursday, a total of 5,549 people in the UK have been tested for coronavirus, of whom nine have tested positive.
There have been more than 75,000 confirmed infections recorded in mainland China and around 1,070 cases across 26 other countries – including those on board the Diamond Princess.
Authorities in China recorded 118 deaths on Thursday, bringing the total to 2,236 inside the country.
In the World Health Organisation (WHO) briefing on Thursday, director general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said: ‘You will get sick of me saying that the window of opportunity remains open for us to contain this Covid-19 outbreak.
‘WHO is doing everything we can to seize that window of opportunity, and we urge the international community to do the same.’
He said the data continues to show a decline in new cases ‘but this is no time for complacency’.
It comes after two elderly Japanese passengers taken off the ship earlier this month died after contracting the virus, the country’s health ministry confirmed yesterday.
Former passengers and experts have blamed crew on the Diamond Princess for spreading the disease to more than a fifth of people on board.
Mr Steele described the quarantine process as a ‘joke’ and said the problem was exacerbated by staff ignoring infection control measures.
At least 634 out of 3,700 passengers and crew have tested positive for the virus since the vessel was moored in Yokohama Bay.
Mr Steele said Japanese medical staff who came on board to help control the outbreak were also to blame.
He told Sky News this morning: ‘The quarantine process was a joke. The quarantine people and the crew actually spread it. They exacerbated the problem.’
It comes after Kentaro Iwata, professor at the infectious diseases division of Japan’s Kobe University, said the safety measures on board were ‘completely inadequate’.
Eleven Israeli citizens were flown home on a private jet on Thursday after Israel became the latest nation to launch an evacuation mission before the UK. Four Israelis were left in Japan after being diagnosed with coronavirus
A South Korean presidential plane evacuated six South Korean citizens from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan on Wednesday. It arrived at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul
US citizens are evacuated from the Diamond Princess and transported by shuttle bus in Yokohama to Haneda airport to fly back to the US via a chartered plane on Monday
Australian citizens are met by soldiers and medics in face masks at Darwin International Airport in Darwin, Australia, on Thursday after being evacuated from the quarantined ship
Professor Iwata inspected the ship and posted a video to YouTube highlighting blatant errors made by crew and medical staff.
He found they ignored infection-free and virus-hit zones – meant to separate passengers suspected of having the virus – and did not wear protective gear.
The professor described the situation on the ship as worse than outbreaks he had dealt with in the past, such as Ebola in Africa and the 2003 SARS crisis in China.
He said that the only time he feared getting the disease himself was when he was on the cruise liner.
Professor Iwata placed himself in a 14-day quarantine for fear of infecting his family after a brief visit on board the ship yesterday.
Meanwhile, Benidorm actress Crissy Rock is having the honeymoon from hell after being quarantined on a month-long Queen Mary 2 cruise amid coronavirus fears.
The 61-year-old Brit spent thousands of pounds on the luxury holiday to celebrate her 2018 wedding to Julian Buck but hasn’t left the ship after it was banned from docking at multiple ports.
A source close to the scouse star told MailOnline she’s ‘terrified’ and feels ‘miserable’ after the ‘trip of a lifetime has turned into a complete disaster.’
‘There’s a lot of panic on board, one passenger fainted yesterday and no one really knows where they are or what’s going on,’ a friend of Crissy’s explained.
‘No one on the ship has coronavirus but passengers have been banned from leaving the vessel with food and fuel supplies being provided by smaller boats.
‘Crissy has been looking forward to this trip for over a year but all she’s seen is water as the ship hasn’t been allowed to dock at several of its scheduled stops.
‘Many passengers have at least experienced other countries on the world tour but Crissy will not vacate the ship at all after boarding in Dubai.’
Crissy and husband Julian, who married in a movie-themed wedding at a Stockport cinema in 2018, boarded the ship in Dubai on January 31.
They were expected to stop at Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Phuket as part of the world cruise they booked to celebrate their honeymoon.
‘Complete disaster’: Benidorm star Crissy Rock is having the honeymoon from hell after being quarantined on a month-long Queen Mary 2 cruise amid coronavirus fears (taken in 2018)
‘Terrified’: Crissy and husband Julian boarded the ship in Dubai on January 31 and won’t be allowed to leave the Queen Mary 2 until it docks in Australia on February 18
But due to coronavirus fears they are heading straight to Freemantle, Australia, and will not leave the ship until it reaches its destination.
Cruise operator Cunard has confirmed to MailOnline the Queen Mary 2 liner will skip scheduled stops following its pickup in Dubai due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
A spokesman said: ‘We are working around the clock with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Public Health England to implement control measures for our ships.
‘Due to this, we’ve had to make changes (though we appreciate this is disappointing, but unfortunately vital) to the itinerary.’
The ship has been to all other stops on the tour including Portugal, Italy, Israel and Dubai, where Crissy boarded.
Crissy’s journey will come to an end in Australia with her stopping at no ports and therefore remaining quarantined until the ship docks at Fremantal on February 18.
A spokesman for Crissy said: ‘We can confirm Crissy Rock is on the Queen Mary 2.
‘Crissy boarded the ship in Dubai towards on January 31 and has been on the vessel since.
‘The ship has been unable to dock due to locations on the schedule being hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
‘Crissy is on the ship with her husband to celebrate their honeymoon – they booked the trip months ago.
‘We hope everyone on board returns safely including Crissy who’s been really worried.’
The actress, who stripped off for ITV’s The Real Full Monty alongside Megan Barton-Hanson and Danielle Armstrong last year, is hoping to return to the UK before February 21 for filming commitments.
BEING COOPED UP WITH OTHER PEOPLE CREATES ‘BOILING POT OF TRANSMISSION’
Infections are ‘notorious’ for spreading easily on cruise ships because the boats have large numbers of people cooped up in a relatively small space and using the same facilities for days or weeks on end.
This raises the risk of getting close to someone who is already infected with a virus, whereas on land someone may only pass them in the street.
Past research has found that holidaymakers on-board cruise ships are less likely to maintain good hand hygiene or isolate themselves in their rooms if they become ill.
A global health lawyer in Geneva, Dr Roojin Habibi, said shutting all the passengers in together had created a ‘boiling pot of transmission’ for the virus, The Guardian reported.
This is particularly problematic when it comes to viruses like the coronavirus which infect the lungs and spread on someone’s breath or by coughing and sneezing.
Dr Jimmy Whitworth, a disease expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told MailOnline: ‘Obviously keeping all the people in one place increases the risk for them.
‘Cruise ships are crowded and people are very close to each other. This is a respiratory virus so it’s going to be spreading by droplet spread [breathing/coughing], close contact and contaminated surfaces about the place.
‘This virus is highly transmissible and is tough to control in this circumstance. It was worth a go [the ship quarantine] but it’s simply not worked.’
Writing in a scientific paper titled ‘Infections on Cruise Ships‘, disease expert Dr Vivek Kak, from Jackson, Michigan, said: ‘The isolated environment of a cruise ship, with close interaction between a vast [group] of individuals, increases the risk of a passenger being exposed to various respiratory secretions and, potentially, to infectious respiratory viruses.
‘The presentation of these infections… can range from an upper respiratory tract infection to life-threatening pneumonia.’
Sharing the ship with so many others also makes it more likely someone will touch a surface which has been contaminated by someone who is ill.
The COVID-19 coronavirus is known to be able to survive on hard surfaces for hours – some estimates suggest days – before it stops being contagious.
Handrails, sunbeds or gym equipment, for example, may be a haven for the viruses to live on, and people may catch the infection from contaminated surfaces in places like swimming pools or hot tubs.
VIRUSES SPREAD FASTER AMONG ELDERLY PEOPLE AND THOSE BRINGING STRAINS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Dr Kak also suggested in his paper, which was published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum by the American Society for Microbiology, that the types of people who take cruises may contribute to the spread of illness.
He added: ‘The typical cruise passenger is often an elderly individual and may have chronic illnesses, which can make him or her more susceptible to infection and its complications.’
The immune system naturally gets worse with age, meaning people are less likely to fight off illness so they get sick quicker and stay sick for longer.
There are also people from all over the world who join together on cruises, meaning that seasonal viruses and different strains of illnesses are all mashed together in one place.
Dr Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: ‘Cruise ships take passengers and crew from all over the world, often passengers are relatively elderly, they spend most of their time on board indoors mixing with others.’
Dr Kak, from Michigan, added: ‘The individuals are often from different cultures, with different immunization backgrounds and health statuses.’