Twenty passengers now positive with coronavirus on cruise ship

Around 3,700 passenger who are quarantined on board Carnival’s Diamond Princess cruise ship are bracing themselves as ten more people have tested positive for coronavirus.

On Wednesday 10 people were confirmed positive and this has doubled to 20 by Thursday, 170 people are still waiting for their test results.

Carnival’s cruise ship is anchored in Yokahama, south of Tokyo Japan and will remain quarantined for up to two weeks.

David Abel from Oxfordshire who is a passenger on board the vessel said he and his wife will be confined to their cabins for two weeks.

He said, “The positive thing in this is… our balcony is facing the sun.

“If we don’t come back with a suntan then there’s something wrong.

“We are allowed onto our balconies, so I think most of my day will be spent writing, researching and being absolutely lazy.

“Naturally, we want to be home. We are missing our little Yorkie dogs. But two weeks, it’ll go quite quickly I hope.”

Coronavirus cases in China have soared to 28,018 with the death toll rising to 565.