A Costa cruise ship (illustration image). – Miguel MEDINA / AFP
A whole boat in solitary confinement. In the north of Rome, some 7,000 people, including about 6,000 passengers, have been stranded since this Thursday morning on board
of a gigantic cruise ship, due to two suspected cases
of the new coronavirus. The results of their analyzes are expected in the evening.
“We were alerted in the early hours by the Ministry of Health and sent three doctors and a nurse on board to take samples,” a spokesperson for the ASL (health center) in Civitavecchia told AFP. . The Costa Cruises spokesperson confirmed “that there are approximately 6,000 passengers on board”, the rest being crew members.
Cough and high fever
The samples will be analyzed at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, which specializes in infectious diseases, said the ASL spokesperson. The results should be known later today. The Costa Smeralda doctor, the flagship – and one of the top five in the world – from Costa Cruises, reported to Italian port authorities the presence on board of a Chinese couple whose wife had suspected symptoms of cough and high fever.
#Italy : About 7,000 people including about 6,000 passengers stranded on a cruise ship on #CostaSmeralda at the port of #Civitavecchia near Rome due to 2 suspected cases of the new coronavirus #coronavirus # CostaCroisières #coronavirusecpic.twitter.com/QZl4MzcXnE
– Jerry Hicks (@JerryHicksUnite) January 30, 2020
Costa Cruises confirmed in a press release that it “activated the health protocol for a suspicious case, concerning a tourist from macao, aboard the Costa Smeralda ”. The 54-year-old woman was “placed in solitary confinement” in the ship’s infirmary along with her partner, according to Costa.
The couple in isolation
The couple arrived in Milan on January 25 from Hong Kong and then embarked in Savona (Italy) and would have stopped in Barcelona, Valencia (Spain) and Marseille (France), according to Italian media. The Costa Smeralda arrived in Civitavecchia from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on Thursday morning “as part of a week-long cruise in the western Mediterranean,” according to Costa. The ship should have left Thursday evening for La Spezia, on the northwest coast of Italy.
“We are a little worried, of course. No one gets on or off the boat except the doctors. Our vacation is likely to end in a nightmare, ”said one passenger. According to Ansa, 751 Chinese tourists are on the ship including the couple. The head of the port of Civitavecchia and commander of the region’s coastguard, Vincenzo Leone, said that “the situation on board is calm”.
Italian healthcare system “ready”
“We are waiting to know the results of the checks still in progress but everything that needs to be done has been done,” he added, saying that “there are no reasons for concern”. Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte told Italian media from Sofia that he was “informed to step up precautionary measures if necessary”.
However, he called “not to spread alarmism or to fuel a form of panic” because the Italian authorities “are taking all the necessary initiatives to deal with the risks linked to the coronavirus”. “So far, all (suspected) cases analyzed have given negative results. The system [sanitaire italien] is ready if there is any case of contagion to the new coronavirus, “Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Higher Institute of Health, told reporters on Thursday.
