Coronavirus: British man among 40 new cases on quarantined cruise ship near Japan

‘I am not showing any symptoms so just possible a carrier,’ Wolverhampton man says

A Briton reportedly on his honeymoon is among 41 more people to be diagnosed with coronavirus on a quarantined cruise ship off the coast of Japan.

Alan Steele from Wolverhampton said he was being hospitalised after passengers on the boat were tested for the disease, which has now infected over 60 people on board.

“Just to let you all know I have been diagnosed as having the virus,” he wrote on Facebook. “I am not showing any symptoms so just possible a carrier.”

Thousands of people have been restricted to their cabins on the boat, which was placed in a two-week quarantine after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the new coronavirus.

The British man who tested positive for the virus was on his honeymoon and will be separated from his new wife as he leaves the boat for treatment, according to another passenger on the Diamond Princess.

Over 600 people in mainland China have been killed by the new coronavirus – which gives patients flu-like symptoms but can develop into pneumonia – and two fatalities in other countries.

Around 3,700 people have been unable to leave the boat since it arrived back into a port in Yokohama, a large Japanese city, on Monday as authorities try to contain the outbreak.

The news of more infections on board has added to the gloom for passengers stuck on the ship, who could only leave their rooms briefly to get some fresh air on the open decks.

Ashley Rhodes-Courter, an American whose parents are on the boat, said she hoped US officials would be able to help her parents get off it.

“They are all breathing circulated contaminated air so they could be getting everyone infected,” she said.

Experts say the virus can be transmitted via droplets from an infected person exhaling, coughing or sneezing, and can also spread through contaminated surfaces.

Three people have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus in the UK, including one British national, and over 30,000 people have been infected worldwide.

Earlier this week, The Independent revealed that NHS hospitals in England had been ordered to organise secure zones to test potential coronavirus patients.

While most cases have been reported in China, people have been diagnosed with the disease around the world, including Thailand, Japan, France and the US.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared an international health emergency for the “unprecedented outbreak”.

Additional reporting by agencies