Four people who were evacuated from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to the UK have tested positive for coronavirus.
The four have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres.
They had been among a group of 30 British nationals and two Irish citizens who arrived at a quarantine block at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside on Saturday.
Officials have confirmed the virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess, which had been held for more than two weeks off the coast of Japan.
More than 600 people aboard the ship tested positive for the virus whilst it was held under quarantine.
A statement on the Department of Health Website from England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty reads: “Four further patients in England have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to thirteen.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Austria has halted all train traffic to and from Italy after suspicions that a train at its southern border with the country had two passengers possibly infected with coronavirus on board.
Austria’s interior ministry said it had been informed by Italy’s railway company that two people had a fever and stopped the train at the Brenner crossing before it could enter Austria.
The train was coming from Venice en route to Munich in southern Germany. Italian state railways said it did not immediately have additional details.
Austria, which shares its southern border with Italy, has expressed concern about the recent outbreak of the virus in the north of the country.
Italian cases of coronavirus have soared to at least 152, the most outside Asia.
Italy is scrambling to check the spread of the new viral disease amid rapidly rising numbers of infections in the country and a third death.
In the UK, 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 flight had displayed any symptoms of the virus.
Two of the patients are in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, one is in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and a fourth was transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle tonight, NHS England said.
Professor Keith Willett, NHS strategic incident director for coronavirus said the centres are “well prepared” to deal with the cases and appealed to local communities to continue to have a “calm response” to confirmed and potential diagnoses.
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.
The development comes as 118 people were released from a coronavirus quarantine centre in Milton Keynes.
The group – who had been brought back to Britain earlier this month on a repatriation flight from Wuhan – spent 14 days at the Kents Hill Park training and conference centre.
They were allowed to leave on Sunday, having all tested negative for the virus.