Cruise Ship, the Pacific Dawn is having to stay at sea off the east coast of Australia in a bid to contain a suspected outbreak of swine flu onboard.

33 Britons are among the passengers on the P&O liner currently off the coast of Queensland after 3 crew members were confined to quarantine after displaying flu-like symptoms.

The suspected outbreak comes after 18 people who disembarked from the Pacific Dawn four days ago in Sydney, all tested positive with swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus.

The ship had already set sail on a ten day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef and back with 1500 passengers onboard, before the outbreak had been confirmed.

The itinerary of the cruise has now been altered and the ship will no longer be calling at the isolated Whitsunday Islands but will instead head past Willis Island and on to Port Douglas where it will dock on Friday.

Samples have been taken from the sick crew members and transported to the mainland for testing while the ships doctors will be screening any passengers who feel unwell.

P&O cruises are working closely with the Australian health authorities section of the US-based Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation to produce an international set of guidelines which cruise ships can operate by.

Meanwhile P&O Cruises are continuing to clean and sanitize the ship using disinfectant believed to be highly effective against the swine flu virus, while re-iterating to all passengers and crew the need to step up hygiene habits in a bid to prevent any virus spreading.

They also confirmed that medication used to treat the H1N1 virus is already onboard all ships.