Honeymoon Brit Alan Steele speaks out as he becomes second UK coronavirus victim

Newly-wed among 61 diagnosed on quarantined ship
Alan Steele and wife Wendy, a nurse, on their wedding day

A British honeymooner told today how he is one of 61 people hit with coronavirus on a cruise ship quarantined in a Japanese port.

Alan Steele is one of 41 new cases confirmed overnight and was being taken off the Diamond Princess, docked in Yokohama just south of Tokyo, for hospital treatment. He is the second Briton to be diagnosed with the virus.

“Just to let you all know I have been diagnosed as having the virus and am being shipped to hospital,” he wrote on Facebook. “Would also like to say that at the moment I am not showing any symptoms so just possible a carrier. Will let you know how I am going on when possible.”

Mr Steele’s wife Wendy, a nurse, is understood to not be displaying symptoms and to still be on the luxury liner, where about 70 Britons are among 3,700 passengers and crew.

Fellow passenger David Abel, 74, said in a Facebook video that he had been dining with Mr Steele, from near Wolverhampton.

Global interest: David Abel, who is on board Diamond Princess with his wife Sally, has been posting updates on social media
David Abel

He added: “I have no idea how he must be feeling. They’re on their honeymoon. He will be going off in to quarantine in a medical facility and she has to stay on board the ship because she’s not displaying symptoms. That’s going to be really, really tough for him.”

Military medics were being deployed on board to help deal with the outbreak amid worries over the infection’s spread.

Japan’s health ministry said none of the new cases were showing “severe symptoms” but one person, with a pre-existing medical complaint, was said to be seriously ill.

“The fact that the numbers appear to be increasing so rapidly is of great concern,” said Professor Stanley Deresinski, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford Health Care.

Passengers, who have been told to self-isolate, are growing increasingly alarmed and some are complaining that the captain has been barred from informing them of new cases, despite ambulances arriving to take victims to hospital.

Coronavirus: Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined

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An elderly passenger from Florida told CNN: “We are scared... I don’t want to leave this ship in a box.”

Fellow passenger Yardley Wong tweeted: “#day3 #coronavirus #CoronaOutbreak #quarantine on #DiamondPrincess oh gosh. One infected passenger in serious condition. Pray for him/her.”

Princess Cruises confirmed that among the 41 new cases there were 21 from Japan, eight from the US, five from each of Canada and Australia, and one from the UK and from Argentina.

So far, 273 passengers and crew have been tested and health chiefs were considering more checks. British consular staff are providing support to Mr Steele and his family.

The latest official figures from China put the number of cases at 31,161, with 636 deaths.

However, British health chiefs say modelling suggests the real number of cases already is probably significantly higher than 100,000, and that the number of deaths will inevitably go up. The number of new cases is still believed to be doubling about every five days.

Professor John Edmunds, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the true number of coronavirus cases could be 10 times higher than currently reported.

He said: “There is mild disease that may be missed and somebody doesn’t seek healthcare... It’s not unusual to only capture 10 per cent of the cases.”

A middle-aged British man was being treated for coronavirus today at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

Coronavirus - In pictures

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He is understood to have been transferred from Brighton, after reportedly going to A&E, and is believed to have caught the infection in Singapore.

The man is the third case in the UK, with two family members who had arrived from China being treated at a specialist unit in Newcastle.

The Government is now urging travellers from countries including Singapore, Thailand, Japan and South Korea to self-isolate if they begin to feel unwell.

Other countries on the list are Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Macau, as well as mainland China. Anyone arriving from these locations should stay indoors and avoid contact with other people if they develop symptoms such as a cough, fever or shortness of breath, the advice warns.

The Foreign Office has advised Britons in China to leave and a last government-chartered repatriation flight will depart from Wuhan, at the centre of the outbreak, on Sunday.

More than 80 UK citizens and family members who were the first to fly home from Wuhan and be quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral have been told they can leave next Thursday.

The group are spending 14 days in isolation but will be released next week as long as they remain symptom-free.

Restrictions have been placed on other cruiser liners.

Some 3,600 passengers and crew, including 66 British passport holders, are reportedly unable to leave the World Dream in Hong Kong, after three Chinese passengers who were on the ship between January 19 and 24 tested positive after disembarking.

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