Coronavirus news – live: Japan struggles to defend cruise ship response after highest number of cases after China reported on board

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Eight patients who tested positive for coronavirus released from hospital

Britons quarantined on a coronavirus-hit cruise ship in Japan will be evacuated “as soon as possible,” the government has announced.

“We hope the flight will be later this week,” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said, as some passengers were allowed to leave the ship after two weeks in isolation.

It came as the death toll from the virus, known as Covid-19, passed 2,000 in mainland China, with over 74,000 cases reported.

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Key Points

• Britons on quarantined ship to be evacuated 'as soon as possible'
• Cruise passengers begin disembarking after 14 days in isolation
• Death toll from disease passes 2,000

[19 February 2020 11:50 · Samuel Osborne]

Alan Steele, a British honeymooner diagnosed with coronavirus on the Diamond Princess, said on Facebook he has left hospital.

He said he is in a hotel in Yokohama and has been told he will need to spend two weeks in quarantine when he returns to the UK.

[19 February 2020 12:08 · Samuel Osborne]

Latest figures on coronavirus outbreak

More than 75,000 people globally have been infected by the coronavirus, according to the latest figures.

— Mainland China:2,004 deaths among 74,185 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei

— Hong Kong: 62 cases, 2 deaths

— Macao: 10

— Japan: 614 cases, including 542 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 1 death

— Singapore: 81

— South Korea: 51

— Thailand: 35

— Malaysia: 22

— Taiwan: 22 cases, 1 death

— Vietnam: 16

— Germany: 16

— United States: 15 cases; separately, 1 U.S. citizen died in China

— Australia: 14

— France: 12 cases, 1 death

— United Kingdom: 9

— United Arab Emirates: 9

— Canada: 8

— Philippines: 3 cases, 1 death

— India: 3

— Italy: 3

— Russia: 2

— Spain: 2

— Belgium: 1

— Nepal: 1

— Sri Lanka: 1

— Sweden: 1

— Cambodia: 1

— Finland: 1

— Egypt: 1

[19 February 2020 12:30 · Samuel Osborne]

China has expelled three Wall STreet Journal reporters over an opinion article which described the country as the "real sick man of Asia," Rory Sullivan reports:

[19 February 2020 12:56 · Samuel Osborne]

Japan criticised for cruise ship quarantine

A Japanese infectious disease specialist has castigated his government's handling of quarantine on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, saying it was run by "bureaucrats" who stoked the crisis by failing to follow basic protocols.

Kentaro Iwata of Kobe University Hospital took his criticism to YouTube after he spent a day as a volunteer doctor on the Diamond Princess. The luxury liner has become an incubator for the novel coronavirus, with more than 600 people now infected.

"The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of the infection control," he said in his video.

"There was no single professional infection control person inside the ship and there was nobody in charge of infection prevention as a professional. The bureaucrats were in charge of everything."

[19 February 2020 13:18 · Samuel Osborne]

Efforts to prevent and control the coronavirus in China's Hubei province have made progress but the situation remains severe, China's vice premier, Sun Chunlan, has said, according to state-run CCTV.

Authorities in Beijing are urging both Hubei and Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, to strengthen checks on patients with fever, the broadcaster said.

[19 February 2020 13:38 · Samuel Osborne]

Coronavirus-infected Briton on quarantined cruise ship has early onset dementia, son says

A British pensioner who has tested positive for coronavirus on board a quarantined cruise ship in Japan is also suffering from early onset dementia, his son has said.

Steve Abel, of Northampton, said his parents, David and Sally Abel, have confirmed that they have tested positive for the virus and have been told to stay in their cabin on the Diamond Princess.

Mr Abel said his father has a number of medical issues and described him as an insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetic, who has a tooth infection, and was also diagnosed with early onset dementia a couple of years ago.

A clearly upset Mr Abel described it as a "very frustrating" situation for the whole family as he told BBC Breakfast: "They are just waiting. They have had their bags packed for over 24 hours now. They thought they were being taken yesterday but no-one came and there was no communication."

He added: "One minute they are being told they are being taken in an ambulance. The next minute they are being told they will be taken on a coach. I do not know what the next few days are going to hold for them.

"They are just being messed about. These are two old-age pensioners. They have been through so much and I just want someone to take care of them.

Mr Abel said his worst fear would be if his parents were separated because "with my dad's early onset dementia ... he could wake up and be a little bit confused, so my mum needs to be there with him".

[19 February 2020 14:05 · Samuel Osborne]

The Chinese Communist Party's Youth League removed a pair of anime-like characters this week after their introduction in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak unleashed a storm of criticism and mockery online, Reuters reports.

The fictitious brother-and-sister duo, dressed in traditional attire and named after characters in poems by Mao Zedong, were rolled out on Monday as "virtual idols" in an apparent attempt to lift spirits as China deals with an outbreak that has infected tens of thousands of people and killed more than 2,000.

Many negative comments, some of which received thousands of "likes" on the Youth League's account on the Twitter-like Weibo, were removed during the day on Monday. By the end of the day, the post with the avatars had also been removed.

"Instead of spending time crafting the idols, I'd rather you make some real contribution to help with Wuhan," one person wrote in a Weibo post that has since been deleted, referring to the city at the centre of the virus outbreak.

[19 February 2020 14:16 · Samuel Osborne]

More than 5,200 tests for the coronavirus have been conducted in the UK, with no new cases testing positive.

Nine people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the UK so far.

[19 February 2020 14:42 · Samuel Osborne]

A Chinese film director and his family have died from coronavirus after quarantining themselves at home in the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, Peter Stubley reports.

[19 February 2020 15:04 · Samuel Osborne]

North Korea imposes strict quarantine on those who display fever

North Korea has imposed a strict quarantine around foreigners or returning nationals who display fever on entering the country, but has found no cases of coronavirus yet, its envoy to the United Nations in Geneva has said.

Han Tae Song, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) ambassador, said its officials had extended the quarantine period to some 30 days - double the 14-day incubation period for the virus.

"(There has been) no case of the outbreak of coronavirus," Mr Han told Reuters. "We have a strict quarantine in certain areas for certain times." Asked about suspect cases, he said: "The main suspects could be travellers who visited other countries - North Korean as well as foreigners.

"I was informed that we extended the quarantine, actually it was 14 days, but according to scientific results, coronavirus could break out even three weeks later. That is why we extended to 30 days quarantine... Prevention is less cost than cure."