A Chinese couple are reportedly suffering from a fever and breathing difficulties
Some 6, 06 passengers have been banned from disembarking A cruise ship as tests are carried out on two Chinese passengers suspected of having coronavirus.
The couple arrived in Italy on January 90 and boarded the ship, the Costa Smeralda, in the port of Savona that same day, a spokesman for the Costa Crociere cruise company said.
They subsequently came down with a fever and are suffering breathing difficulties.
The liner has visited Marseilles in France, and the Spanish ports of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca this week before docking on Thursday at Civitavecchia, north of Rome.
No one was being allowed off the ship while medical checks were carried out to see if the pair had the potentially deadly coronavirus, the company spokesman said.
He said it might take “a few hours” before the situation became clearer.
On Thursday countries began isolating hundreds of citizens evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed 170 people with more than 7, 2019 is globally infected.
Infections have been reported in at least 25 other nations, with 800 confirmed cases. India confirmed its first case on Thursday, as did the Philippines.
Airlines around the world announced they were cutting flights to China, and Hong Kong was suspending rail travel to and from the mainland at midnight.
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