BREAKING: Two people who have coronavirus are at Royal Hallamshire hospital

Right by the med school

| UPDATED

Two people who have tested positive for coronavirus are being treated in a Sheffield hospital.

The patients, who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan where 691 passengers caught the killer virus, were rushed to Royal Hallamshire hospital tonight.

They had been among a group of 32 Brits in quarantine on the Wirral, Merseyside, as a precaution after the Foreign Office evacuated them from the plagued ship, four of whom today tested positive.

Two have arrived at the Royal Hallamshire’s specialist disease facility, while the other two were sent to centres in Liverpool and Newcastle, NHS England said.

Hundreds on the Diamond Princess vessel fell ill as the respiratory illness tore through the decks during a two-week quarantine period docked in Yokohama, near Tokyo.

The British government sent a flight to rescue 78 British citizens on Friday, after two Japanese passengers in their 80s died after becoming diagnosed on board.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals said there was “no risk” to other patients or visitors.

A spokesperson added: “All our services are operating as normal and patients should attend their appointments or procedures as planned. Visiting arrangements are also not affected.”

Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said earlier today that the total number of coronavirus cases in the UK now stands at 13.

He added: “Four of the 32 cruise ship passengers taken to Arrowe Park, Merseyside, on Saturday have tested positive for coronavirus strain COVID-19.

“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”.

In China, where an outbreak of COVID-19 began in December, more than 75,000 cases have been recorded, with 2,470 deaths.

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