Brits from coronavirus-stricken Grand Princess cruise ship fly home

Brits who were quarantined aboard a cruise ship off the coast of California are being flown home.

The 135 nationals who were on the Grand Princess are expected to arrive at Birmingham Airport this morning, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Upon arrival they will be transported to their homes and expected to quarantine for 14 days, the Standard understands.

The boat had been held off the coast of California before being permitted to dock in the port of Oakland.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The safety, health and welfare of British nationals is always our top priority, and we have been working tirelessly with the US authorities to ensure all British nationals who wished to return could do so.”

The Grand Princess pulled into the Port of Oakland and had more than 3,500 people aboard.

Some 21 of them were infected with the new virus.

It was carrying people from 54 different countries and had been held off the coast since Wednesday before docking on Monday.

It came after another ship, the Diamond Princess, was on lockdown off the coast of Japan last month due to the virus. Some 700 passengers ended up becoming infected aboard the vessel.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus across the globe have topped 113,000 - though this is not a toll of how many people have it at present - due to people recovering and fatalities. Around 3,800 people have died globally after contracting the virus, including six in the UK.