Coronavirus ship: Going 'stir crazy' on Grand Princess cruise

Margaret Bartlett has been isolated in a cabin for five days

A 77-year-old grandmother has said she is going "stir crazy" on board a coronavirus-hit cruise ship.

Margaret Bartlett is one of 140 Britons on the Grand Princess, which has been barred from docking in California after 21 people tested positive.

The ship is due to arrive in Oakland on Monday and Mrs Bartlett, from Burnley, said it was "terrible" on board and they have "rotten food".

A passenger who was staying 10 cabins away from Mrs Bartlett has died.

The Foreign Office said it was "working intensively" to secure a repatriation flight for Britons stuck on the ship, which is carrying 3,500 passengers and crew.

The Grand Princess has been stuck off the coast of California with 3,500 passengers and crew

Mrs Bartlett has been confined to her cabin, which has no balcony, and said she was "dreading" being stuck on board as some Americans are taken off.

• Couple on coronavirus-hit ship 'want to get home'

• PM to hold emergency coronavirus meeting

• Coronavirus: What are the symptoms?

She said: "The food is rotten and terrible and we have to fight for it. It is not good enough."

Lyndsey Vickers fears her mother will be stuck on the ship for weeks

"We are going stir crazy stuck in the cabin. It is a bit depressing when we saw land and it was sunny and we couldn't get out.

"We are hoping something will get done. It is terrible."

Her daughter Lyndsey Vickers told the BBC she was "very worried" about her mother.

• EASY STEPS: How to keep safe

• A SIMPLE GUIDE: What are the symptoms?

• GETTING READY: How prepared is the UK?

• MAPS AND CHARTS: Visual guide to the outbreak

She said: "There is no reassurance that the ship is about to dock as I don't think she is going to get off.

"My greatest fear is that they will be kept on that ship for two weeks."

Princess Cruises rejected Mrs Bartlett's complaints about the food, with a spokesperson saying it was "made from fresh" and passengers had received meal deliveries to their rooms by room service.

Cruise ships are feared to be fertile breeding grounds for the Covid-19 virus. There were more than 700 cases and six linked deaths on the Diamond Princess, which was held off Japan last month.