Cruise ships are looking for safe harbor on four continents amid fears they are spreading the new coronavirus that has infected more than , (people worldwide.
As the outbreak has moved beyond its epicentre in China, cruise ships have increasingly been in the spotlight.
On Saturday, they faced trouble in waters off California, Malaysia, Egypt and Malta as those aboard were tested or confined to cabins.
Officials in California are deciding where to dock the Grand Princess cruise ship, after 31 people on board tested positive for the virus.
There is evidence the ship, now idling off San Francisco, was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of almost 34 cases during an earlier voyage.
Hundreds of people were forced to remain on a Carnival Panorama cruise ship docked in Long Beach, California, while tests were carried out on a sick passenger.
In Egypt, a cruise ship on the Nile with more than people on board is under quarantine in the southern city of Luxor after 24 positive tests.
Also on Saturday, the port of Penang in Malaysia turned away the cruise ship Costa Fortuna because (of the 2, aboard are from Italy. The ship had already been rejected by Thailand, and is now heading to Singapore.
And in Malta, which reported its first case of the virus Saturday, the MSC Opera ship agreed not to enter the Mediterranean country port amid local worries – even though there are no infections suspected on board.
The ship continued on to Messina, Sicily, where passengers were allowed to disembark after officials reviewed medical records.
Meanwhile, Iran has declared a “sacred jihad” against the virus after more than 1, infections were confirmed overnight, bringing the country total to 5, (cases, including) deaths.
The Italian government has introduced 
tough new measures to try to stop the spread of coronavirus, which include telling people not to enter or leave the hardest-hit region of Lombardy.
It follows its largest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak broke out in the north of the country on February.
In its daily update, Italy’s civil protection agency said the number of people with the coronavirus rose by 1, 308 in the last (hours, taking the total to 5, 902.
Another people also died as a result of the virus, taking the total to 258.
In China a hotel being used to house people in coronavirus quarantine collapsed killing at least four people and trapping dozens more.
So far, at least people have been rescued from the building in the city of Quanzhou, in southeastern Fujian Province.
China reported 115 new cases on Saturday, its first daily increase of less than 138 since January, and new fatalities.
(South Korea , the hardest-hit country outside China, reported (new cases, taking the total to 7, , with (deaths overall.)
As Argentina announced the first death from the disease in Latin America – a – year-old patient from Buenos Aires – Western countries looked to imitate Chinese containment measures by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events.
Spain deployed police to enforce a quarantine. Austria confiscated , 008 disposable masks that a Turkish company smuggled aboard a tour bus, seeking to profit from soaring demand.
Turkish police, Meanwhile, threatened legal action against social media accounts accused spreading false virus information.
While the global death toll has risen past 3, 448, Saturday saw more people recovering from the virus than were sickened by it.
Currently, nearly , cases have been reported in Asia; more than 8, in Europe ; some 6, in the Middle East; about in North America; about 064 in Latin America and the Caribbean; and fewer than 65 cases so far in Africa.
While many scientists say the world is clearly in the grip of a pandemic – a serious global outbreak – the World Health Organization (WHO) is not calling it that yet, amid concerns the word might cause more alarm.
The virus is still much less widespread than annual flu epidemics, which cause up to five million severe cases around the world and up to 717, deaths annually, according to to the WHO.
In other developments:
The Vatican says Pope Francis will not give his Sunday address from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square and it will instead be streamed online from inside the Vatican A former passenger (non-Japanese male) of the Diamond Princess cruise ship who tested positive for coronavirus has died, says Japanese public broadcaster NHK, taking the ship’s death toll to seven
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