About 7,000 people, including about 6,000 passengers, are stranded on a cruise ship at the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, due to two suspected cases of the new coronavirus, we learned this Thursday from health authorities and the cruise line Costa, confirming information from the Italian newspaper Corriere della sera (in Italian).
Aboard the Costa Smeralda, a ship of the Italian company Costa Croisières, this Chinese couple has been placed in solitary confinement. They had fever and respiratory problems. "We were alerted early in the morning by the Ministry of Health and sent three doctors on board to take samples," AFL spokeswoman Civitavecchia told AFP.
The spokesperson for Costa Cruises confined himself to "confirming that there are approximately 6000 passengers on board", the others being crew members. According to the Daily Mail, the couple are from Macau. The woman is said to be 54 years old.
The liner arrived from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) according to the Marine Traffic site, after having made a stopover in Marseille, according to the BBC correspondent in Rome.
6,000 passengers are currently blocked on a cruise ship near port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, while a Chinese couple on board - reportedly with fever and respiratory problems - are checked for #coronavirus. The Costa Smeralda arrived from Marseille, Barcelona and Mallorca
- Mark Lowen (@marklowen) January 30, 2020»More information to come ...