Possible virus case traps 7,000 on cruise ship in Italy

ROME: A cruise ship owned by Carnival Corp was blocked from leaving an Italian port with some 7,000 people on board, after a passenger came down with symptoms that raised concerns about a possible case of coronavirus.

Carnival’s Italian unit Costa Crociere SpA said that a 54-year-old woman from Macau is currently in isolation on board its Costa Smeralda cruise ship in the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome.

A medical team from a Rome examined the patient, who demonstrated fever and respiratory symptoms, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Further operations on the ship “will be decided later,” a Coast Guard spokesman said. The Costa Smeralda case could mark the first case of a cruise ship being affected by the coronavirus. Cruise vessels, where passengers are in close contact over extended periods of time, are susceptible to outbreaks and spreads of viruses. It would also be the first confirmed case of the disease in Italy.