Two Britons who were on lockdown on a ship after hundreds of people got coronavirus – and are now in isolation in the UK – reveal how their dream holiday ended up with them being quarantined twice.

Alan Sandford, 64, and his wife Vanessa, 62, from Nottinghamshire, told Sky News their story:

I liked the look of the Princess Diamond cruise because its route would take me to lots of places I hadn’t been before and on board we were really enjoying ourselves.

The first I heard of the coronavirus was when we went to Hong Kong towards the end of the cruise.

The Chinese New Year celebrations had all been cancelled because of “this virus from China” that was sweeping the country. It didn’t affect us so we weren’t worried.

It was only when we got to Okinawa, in southern Japan, that everything seemed more serious. It took us four or five hours to get off the ship, go through immigration and have a temperature check.

A couple of days later we docked near Tokyo earlier than planned and after that the captain announced that a passenger on the ship had tested positive for the coronavirus.

This was the first time I began to get a little concerned, and at 3.30am there was a knock at our door.

I drowsily went to the door, not thinking about what I was wearing, which was very little. I opened it to see two Japanese medics in protective clothing – masks, gloves, goggles and carrying clipboards.

Before I knew what was happening one of them stuck what I hoped was a thermometer in my ear as the the other one noted the result.

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