Six thousand passengers on an
Italian cruise ship are currently blocked at Civitavecchia after
a Chinese woman came down with a fever raising fears she had
contracted the new coronavirus.
Her husband did not present any symptoms.
The couple, from Hong Kong, were tested by experts from
Rome's Spallanzani Hospital, which specialises in infectious
diseases and viruses.
The woman is being held in isolation in a hospital ward
aboard the Costa Crociere ship.
As well as a fever, she is also suffering respiratory
problems, sources said.
The passengers have been ordered not to leave the ship.
The couple arrived in Italy at Milan's Malpensa Airport on
January 25.
They boarded the ship at Savona earlier this week.
Costa Crociere said the situation on the vessel was under
control.
"Our trip has had a nightmare ending," said one of the
passengers.
Separately a Chinese man was taken to the Spallanzani after
falling ill with a fever in a hotel in Via Cavour in central
Rome Wednesday night.
Some 59 Italians in Wuhan, where the virus broke out, are
being airlifted out later Thursday and will spend 14 days in
quarantine at a military facility in Italy.
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