A honeymooner who was the first Briton to catch the killer coronavirus on the doomed Diamond Princess cruise has today attacked the Government for treating the dozens of UK nationals still onboard ‘pretty badly’.
Alan Steele, from Wolverhampton, blasted the Foreign Office for abandoning Britons on the virus-ridden ship after half a dozen countries rescued their citizens earlier this week before the UK.
Mr Steele, 58, 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, docked off the coast of Japan, and likened his experience in a foreign infectious diseases ward to ‘solitary confinement in prison’.
In a scathing attack on the UK Government’s dire handling of a planned evacuation mission, lorry driver Mr Steele accused ministers of ‘treating us badly’ and added: ’78 Brits, what the hell do they matter?’
Officials have finally confirmed the UK will repatriate the remaining Brits stuck on the cruise liner tomorrow evening, after two elderly Japanese tourists today became the ship’s first coronavirus victims.
But the UK nationals will be some of the last remaining passengers on the doomed cruise liner because the US, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Israel have already airlifted 600 cruise passengers between them and Canada sent a plane for its people today.
Almost half of the 2,600 passengers originally on the Diamond Princess have now been evacuated. Roughly 1,700 remain trapped onboard, including crew.
Leading scientists have warned the holidaymakers who remain aboard are increasingly likely to catch coronavirus because the gigantic vessel is an ideal breeding ground due to its bungled 14-day quarantine.
Mr Steele announced yesterday he had been released from a hospital in Japan, telling his legion of Facebook fans he was in a five-star hotel in Yokohama overlooking the city’s harbour – paid for by the cruise liner.
In other developments to the escalating coronavirus crisis today:
- Another British coronavirus patient diagnosed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship described the pain of ‘every pore opening’ in a message from his hospital bed in Japan
- More than 75,000 people across the world – including at least 634 on the Diamond Princess have now caught the virus. Almost 2,130 patients have died
- China’s National Health Commission today announced just 394 new cases of the killer coronavirus, which is the lowest daily infection toll in almost a month
- UK officials have confirmed Brits will disembark the cruise tomorrow afternoon and be transported to nearby Haneda airport in Yokohama before being flown to MoD Boscombe Down near Salisbury, Wiltshire
Alan Steele, from Wolverhampton, was on his honeymoon with his wife, Wendy, when the coronavirus outbreak broke out on the Diamond Princess cruise ship
Mr Steele revealed his wife Wendy (pictured left on the cruise ship before the outbreak) is ‘struggling’ on the virus-ridden ship, docked off the coast of Japan
Eleven Israeli citizens were flown home on a private jet 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
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
Mr Steele announced on Facebook he would have to spend another 14 days in quarantine when he gets back to Britain. It is thought that he will be allowed on the evacuation flight but the Foreign Office is refusing to guarantee it.
Discussing the quarantine, he said: ‘It’s pretty sickening. We know my body has cured it, why have I got to sit in a 14-day quarantine?’
Speaking to Sky News, he added that his wife – whom he married in January – was ‘struggling’ and hit out at the Government’s handling of the crisis.
He said: ‘Wendy was my biggest worry, having to leave her on her own. She’s been doing a lot better than I thought, but she’s struggling.
‘The Government have treated us pretty badly. I know poor Boris has had his hands full with Brexit, the floods and reshuffling his cabinet.
‘So I suppose 78 Brits, what the hell do they matter? I feel they forgot us..’ Mr Steele was taken off the ship after testing positive for the virus two weeks ago, but said he displayed no symptoms during his stay in hospital.
‘It’s like solitary confinement in prison. You’ve got no one to talk to whatsoever because they don’t understand what I’m saying.
‘I had no symptoms whatsoever. None. I know people are dying but my personal experience is no symptoms. I’m just a carrier.’ Mr Steele joined in criticism of the Japanese authorities’ handling of the situation, blaming cruise ship staff for spreading the infection.
He said: ‘The quarantine process was a joke. The quarantine people and the crew actually spread it. They exacerbated the problem.’
Mr Steele yesterday cracked a joke about his ordeal after recovering in hospital, posting a picture on Facebook saying ‘I will need a cruise to get over this lmao’ [laughing my a** off].
He joked that he planned to celebrate his release with a McDonald’s, saying ‘there are loads’ of the restaurants near the Diamond Princess cruise terminal.
It comes as a British coronavirus victim diagnosed onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship today revealed what it is like to be infected with the deadly virus in a message from his hospital bed in Japan.
David Abel, 74, 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. His wife Sally is also infected.
The virus poses a significant threat to the Abels due to their age and the fact Mr Abel is diabetic, because elderly and sick people with compromised immune systems are most at risk of serious complications.
Masked passengers look out from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, a luxurious vessel which has 13 decks, on Thursday
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 posted a picture of his wife, Sally, also getting treated with the caption: ‘Now Sally’s turn. Both beds in same room.’ Mrs Abel was also taken off the cruise after she tested positive
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’
The couple, from Northamptonshire, will also miss out on the Government’s evacuation flight sent to rescue British passengers from the cruise liner tomorrow evening.
The UK’s evacuation comes four days after the US airlifted 340 passengers and a day after Australia, Canada, Israel and Hong Kong evacuated hundreds of their citizens.
At least 70 Britons abandoned on the disease-ridden ship will be among the last passengers to leave the Diamond Princess on the rescue flight home to the UK tomorrow evening.
Brits confirmed to have the virus will be treated in Japanese hospitals and won’t be flown home until they recover. Mr Steele has already recovered so is likely to be allowed on the flight.
Mr Abel, who also revealed he is sharing a room with his wife, 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’ and added that it was ‘impossible to send or receive emails’ and he was unable to contact the British Embassy or his family.
Coronavirus predominantly causes a cough, fever, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, but the illness can have indirect effects on the skin.
Consultant dermatologist Dr Emma Wedgeworth, a British Skin Foundation spokesperson, told MailOnline: ‘If you have a fever, the blood vessels supplying the skin can open up – something known as vasodilation, sweating occurs and the skin can become more itchy and uncomfortable.
‘In this situation, the sweat ducts can become blocked leading to a bumpy itchy rash on the skin. However, it is unlikely that coronavirus would have a direct effect on the pores of the skin.’
Mr and Mrs Abel’s son, Stephen – who yesterday lashed out at the Government for its handling of the Diamond Princess situation, today posted a video reading out some messages he received from his parents.
He said his parents texted him to say they arrived at hospital after 19 minutes – even though the Foreign Office allegedly said it may take around six hours.
Mrs Abel told her son that doctors had pulled a bed into the same room as his father, adding that it was a ‘bit cramped but we will cope’.
Border patrol officers travel through the snow to inspect a potential coronavirus patient in a remote area of Altay, Xinjiang province, China
And she added that she and her husband were in ‘matching green and white-striped pyjamas’, which she described as ‘very fetching’.
Mrs Abel also revealed that the couple have both had flu and pneumonia jabs, which doctors have claimed has stopped their symptoms from progressing further.
Other coronavirus survivors have already lifted the lid on what it’s like to contract the killer disease – with one Chinese student revealing he had a temperature, pains, and a cough so bad he thought he may die.
Mr Steele compared being quarantined in a Japanese hospital to ‘solitary confinement in prison’. He was swabbed and tested for the killer virus, and when tests came back positive he was separated from Wendy, who did not have the infection, and taken to hospital.
Talking to Sky News this morning, he said: ‘The anxiety was worse than anything – not knowing, and no-one telling you anything and the language barrier.
‘It’s like solitary confinement in prison, you’ve got no-one to talk to. Yes you’ve got nurses and doctors coming in, but you can’t talk to them you can’t have a conversation with them because they don’t understand what I’m saying.’
A Japanese disease expert branded the Diamond Princess quarantine a ‘major failure’, ‘completely inadequate’ and a ‘mistake’ as he slammed the ‘bureaucrats’ in charge. Kentaro Iwata said the situation on board the vessel was worse than outbreaks he had dealt with in the past, such as Ebola in Africa and the 2003 SARS crisis in China, as he feared he would also be infected.
The professor said in a YouTube video that on board the Diamond Princess was the only time he feared getting disease himself. He placed himself in a 14-day quarantine for fear of infecting his family after a brief visit on board the ship yesterday.
The Kobe University infectious diseases expert said conditions on the ship were ‘completely chaotic’ and violated quarantine rules. His video has racked up more than a million views amid a barrage of criticism of Japanese authorities after 542 people were infected during the lockdown.
Japan has also faced wider criticism after the number of infections on the mainland reached 74, including one of only four fatalities outside China.
But Iwata’s criticism of the ‘bureaucrats’ who stoked the crisis by failing to follow basic protocols. is some of the most scathing yet.
‘The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of infection control,’ said Iwata in videos which he posted in English and Japanese last night.
Officials in protective suits help a passenger disembark from the quarantined Diamond Princess. Pictured today
Officials help load a man’s luggage into the boot of a vehicle, after he was allowed to leave the quarantined cruise ship
Two elderly passengers wearing face masks wait for a vehicle to collect them after disembarking the Diamond Princess
He said: ‘There was no distinction between the green zone, which is free of infection, and the red zone, which is potentially contaminated by the virus.
‘I was in Africa dealing with the Ebola outbreak. I was in other countries dealing with the cholera outbreak. I was in China in 2003 to deal with SARS…I never had fear of getting infection myself.
‘But inside Diamond Princess, I was so scared… because there was no way to tell where the virus is.’
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today confirmed the evacuation flight for British nationals on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship will leave from Tokyo.
He said: ‘Details have been sent to those who have registered for the flight. 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.’
The Government was forced to speed up its efforts to repatriate the stranded Brits after the US flew its citizens to safety over the weekend and Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea all accomplished it this week.
Meanwhile, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said on Wednesday that those Britons repatriated from the Diamond Princess will be quarantined for 14 days at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral on their return.
There were 78 British passengers on the cruise liner when cases of the coronavirus strain started to emerge. The virus, called SARS-CoV-2, causes a disease known as COVID-19.
At least 634 passengers have been infected on the cruise liner, which has been quarantined off the coast of Yokohama since February 3 with 3,700 people on board.
Leading experts have slammed the quarantine as a ‘major failure’ and ‘completely inadequate’, claiming the ship had become a ‘source of infection’ rather than a safe haven.
No details about the two Japanese passengers who died after getting off the Diamond Princess have been given by health officials in Japan, other than their ages.
The pair are the first fatal cases among the more than 600 cases diagnosed on the cruise ship, which has had more infected passengers than all of the countries in the world combined – excluding China.
Two sets of passengers wearing masks look into the distance underneath the Diamond Princess logo on the side of the ship
Passengers wait for transportation after leaving the cruise ship this morning, in the second wave of tourists disembarking
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato offered partial confirmation of the deaths but said he had to wait until families had been informed before making it official.
‘I pray for their souls and offer condolences to their bereaved families,’ he told MPs. ‘The two were sent to medical facilities when they showed symptoms. I believe that they received the best possible treatment.’
Yesterday, 443 passengers disembarked after testing negative for the virus and not showing symptoms during a 14-day quarantine period.
The rest of the passengers will be allowed to leave in waves over the next two days. Hundreds more passengers are expected to leave the ship today, with some already pictured getting into yellow buses and leaving for stations and airports for home.
The Japanese Health Ministry, which is running operations on the ship, could not confirm how many people remained on board.
Those who have shared a room with people testing positive were required to remain in quarantine, as were crew.
But questions are increasingly being asked as to why former Diamond Princess passengers are able to roam freely around Japan’s famously crowded cities, even if they have tested negative.
‘Is it really safe to get off?’ screamed a headline in the Nikkan Sports tabloid. The paper quoted a passenger who said he was tested on February 15 and left four days later. ‘I thought I could be infected during the four days. I thought ‘Is it really OK’?’
It comes as more than 150 Australian passengers arrived home after a pre-dawn departure from Tokyo’s Haneda airport. They face another 14-day quarantine.
Buses escorted by police cars transported the Australian passengers from Yokohama to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport late Wednesday.
The buses drove the Australians straight to the tarmac, where they boarded the government-chartered plane.
Some Hong Kong passengers also went home, while Canadians were due to leave on a charter flight in the early hours of Friday, Tokyo time, a Canadian government spokeswoman said.
An evacuation flight was also being arranged for British nationals to leave Tokyo on Friday.
MailOnline understands it will take off in the evening local time. Tokyo is nine hours ahead of GMT, meaning if a flight was to leave the Japanese city at 7pm local time, it would be 10am in London.
Earlier in the week, the US evacuated more than 340 nationals on two chartered flights, with two planes picking them up from nearby Tokyo over the weekend.
They will spend two weeks in quarantine on military bases in California and Texas after 14 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus during the bus ride to the airport.
A US State Department official said there was still about 45 US citizens on board the cruise ship as of Thursday.
A large group of Australians quarantined on the ship are on their way home on a special Qantas flight. Pictured: Australians Clare Hedger and her mother during an evacuation to Darwin ahead of quarantine
Earlier this week, the cruise ship began disembarking passengers who have tested negative for the virus following a 14-day quarantine period
Medical staff wearing protective suits are seen at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal where the Diamond Princess is anchored
Americans flown back will have to complete another 14 days quarantine, as will returning Hong Kong residents.
Disembarked Japanese passengers, however, face no such restrictions, a decision that has sparked concern.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, when asked yesterday why Japanese leaving the ship did not have to spend another two weeks in quarantine, referred to the advice of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID).
The NIID said there should be no problem if people had shown no symptoms for 14 days and had tested negative for the virus during the period their health was under surveillance.
Besides those on the cruise liner and returnees brought home from Wuhan, China, about 70 cases of domestic infections have been confirmed in Japan, including 25 in Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The spread of the virus has raised concerns about planning for the Tokyo Summer Olympics as well as the impact on Japan’s economy.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato today defended Japan’s response in parliament, telling lawmakers that officials have taken expert advice and responded to issues on a daily basis.
In a move to reassure the public, the health ministry also issued a statement in both English and Japanese that said all passengers had been required to stay in their cabins since February 5 to contain the virus.
Around 70 other Britons from the ship are due to fly back to the UK from Tokyo on Friday on a repatriation flight organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Four British cases have since been confirmed by the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office has said Britons diagnosed with coronavirus will continue to be supported while they undergo treatment in Japan.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has announced the EU will be financing the repatriation of citizens from any of the EU27 still stuck on the Diamond Princess.
As of 2pm on Wednesday, a total of 5,216 people in the UK have been tested for coronavirus, of whom nine have tested positive.
New cases have fallen to less than 2,000 per day for the past two days but 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 appears to have been slowing, the situation remains severe in Hubei province where the virus is thought to have originated.
China’s efforts to control the deadly outbreak of a new coronavirus ‘are working’, Beijing’s top diplomat said Thursday, attributing an easing in new cases to his country’s ‘forceful action’ against the illness.
Speaking in Laos after talks with peers from the 10 Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries, Wangi Yi said the outbreak was ‘controllable and curable’ despite the global panic it has seeded.
‘China is not only protecting its own people but also the rest of the world,’ he told the summit in Vientiane, referencing a recent sharp drop in new cases of the virus inside China, where it has killed more than 2,100 people.
The hastily-convened summit with ASEAN neighbours comes as a region dependent on the flow of Chinese goods and tourists faces a steep bill following restrictions on movement from China.
A similar meeting was held in 2003 following the outbreak of SARS.
Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the new coronavirus – known as COVID-19 – has infected more than 74,000 people inside China.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said on Wednesday that those Britons repatriated from the Diamond Princess will be quarantined for 14 days at Arrowe Park Hospital (pictured) on the Wirral on their return
The NHS accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral was used to quarantine 94 Brits who were evacuated from the outbreak’s epicentre – the deserted Chinese city of Wuhan
The government has locked down tens of millions of people in several virus-hit cities, extended Lunar New Year holidays and pulled flights in a scramble to contain the virus.
Still the health scare has cascaded across Southeast Asia, with cases recorded in the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have restricted flights from mainland China and suspended visa-free arrivals as health screening ramps up at entry points.
Thailand, which has imposed no such restrictions, reported a 90 percent slump in arrivals from the mainland this month, a gut punch to an already beleaguered tourist sector which makes up nearly a fifth of the economy.
Thailand anticipates a loss of more than $8 billion by year’s end from the tourist tail-off.
In Laos, Beijing will be eager to ‘project regional solidarity with its anti-pandemic efforts’ a Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP, declining to be named.
China sees ASEAN as its backyard and has ramped up economic, diplomatic and cultural influence over recent years with billions of dollars of investment, tourist outflows and a bigger presence at regional summits.
There are fears prolonged disruption by the virus could slow work on the massive China-backed ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure schemes which criss-cross ASEAN.
Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr thanked China for its ‘unprecedented domestic measures and quick action’ – apparently referring to the lockdowns of several large cities as the virus billowed out.
But he recognised the ‘massively detrimental’ economic impact of the disease, which has constricted global trade and tourism vital to many Southeast Asian economies.
It comes as British retailers are preparing for stock shortages over the coronavirus outbreak.
Factory closures across China could affect giants like Halfords, B&M, DFS, Asos and Primark, with some analysts suggesting the possibility of gaps being left on store shelves.
‘A lot of disruption’ is expected from next month as the Covid-19 outbreak forces Asian container ships to cancel their plans to visit Britain, industry leaders have claimed.
Britain’s biggest car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has been flying components from China in suitcases – and might run out within a fortnight, the Times reports.
And JCB has curbed production at 11 domestic plants while Chinese suppliers facing the ongoing coronavirus crisis ‘struggle’ to ship parts.
European seaports have faced warnings that the shutting down of plants across China could mean suppression of the country’s trade with the continent by a fifth.