Civitavecchia (Italy): Over 6,000 tourists were stopped Thursday from getting down from a cruise ship in this city of Italy after the vast liner was placed on lockdown over two suspected cases of the deadly coronavirus.
Samples from a Chinese couple were sent for testing after three doctors and a nurse boarded the ‘Costa Crociere’-run luxury ship in this port city to tend to a woman running a fever, the local health authorities said.
Costa Crociere company’s authorities confirmed that the ship, carrying close to 7,000 people including the crew, was in lockdown. It said it a 54-year old woman from Macau ‘was placed in solitary confinement in the on-board hospital Thursday night with her travel companion’, and was following instructions from the health ministry.
The ‘Costa Smeralda’, the company’s flagship and the fifth-largest cruise ship in the world, ‘came from Palma de Mallorca and is currently engaged in one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean’, the company stated.
The couple flew in to Milan from Hong Kong January 25, before getting on the cruise, according to Italian media reports.
“The couple’s cabin has been isolated and they are in with the doctors,” an unnamed passenger was quoted as telling by the media in Italy. “We’re a bit worried of course. No-one is getting on or off the ship apart from the doctors. This holiday risks ending in a nightmare.”
China reported its biggest single-day jump in novel coronavirus deaths Thursday, as global fears deepened with at least 15 countries confirming infections. More than213 people have died since the outbreak of the disease and over than 10,000 people have been affected.
PNN & Agencies