FOUR patients who arrived at Arrowe Park last night from a Japanese cruise ship have tested positive for coronavirus.

The 32 passengers arrived at the Wirral hospital last night, after spending two weeks quarantined on The Diamond Princess liner.FOUR cruise ship passengers flown to England this weekend have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 13.

The four - confirmed to be British nationals - have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres.

They are the first diagnoses of the Covid-19 strain in people brought back to the UK on repatriation flights.

Wirral Teaching Hospital NHS chief executive Janelle Holmes said: "Four of our guests have now tested positive for Covid-19. They have been moved off site to an appropriate isolation facility.

"We always had a plan in place for this eventuality – and this has been carried out successfully. I want to repeat and reassure that we are continuing to work with national experts from PHE at all times and they are on site, along with local infection control experts and other health care professionals.

"When guests arrived yesterday evening, we followed clear guidance in relation to infection prevention control. This was to minimise the chance of any infection spreading.

"Our hospital is running as usual including all community led services.

"We are extremely grateful to those members of staff from across all our partners who are continuing to support our guests in such a professional way. And just as importantly other staff, for their patience in what are exceptional evolving circumstances.

"We are all used to dealing with people who can have a range of illnesses and infections as part of our day jobs – and I’m sure that as professionals working in the NHS we will all continue to deliver safe and effective care for patients."

The four passengers had been among a group of 30 Britons and two Irish citizens who arrived at a quarantine block at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside on Saturday.

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England's chief medical officer said the virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had been held for more than two weeks off the coast of Japan.

Professor Chris Whitty said: "Four further patients in England have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 13.

"The virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the patients are being transferred from Arrowe Park to specialist NHS infection centres."

The Department of Health said a "full infectious disease risk assessment" was done before Saturday's repatriation flight and that no-one who boarded the plane had displayed any symptoms of the virus.

Any more passengers who test positive will immediately be taken into specialist NHS care, the department said.

It added that "appropriate arrangements" are in place at Arrowe Park, including strict separation of passengers from staff and from each other.

It is understood some British nationals who are part of the Diamond Princess crew opted to remain on the ship.

Almost one-fifth of the 3,711 passengers originally on board the cruise liner have been infected.

Japan's health ministry announced on Sunday that one of the passengers taken to hospital after testing positive for the virus has died.

The death of the Japanese man aged in his eighties brings the number of fatalities from the Diamond Princess to three.

British couple David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, who were on the cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary, are still in a Japanese hospital after being diagnosed with coronavirus and pneumonia.

Relatives said the couple are both "having a really tough time" and feel "very much in the dark" in terms of treatment, adding that they are awaiting further tests.

Speaking in a liveblog today, their daughter-in-law Roberta Abel said: "We want to get them discharged from the hospital and back to the UK as negative.

"They are scared. They said to us today, 'If we get that virus again, we are not coming home'."