19 Feb 2020

544 people diagnosed with the coronavirus on cruiseship

From First Up, 5:13 am on 19 February 2020

Freedom is close for those on the Diamond Princess cruiseship - but the number of cases of Covid-19 among passengers and crew continues to climb. 544 people from the ship have now been diagnosed with the virus. British passenger David Abel, who has vlogged during his time in quarantine aboard the ship, informed followers last night he and his wife Sally have been diagnosed with Coronavirus. In a post on facebook around seven thirty pm New Zealand time yesterday he said: "There is going to be a time of quiet. We have been proved positive and leaving from hospital soon. Blessing all" Just hours before, in a video posted to his YouTube channel, David said they'd been waiting a number of days for the results from their last test.