Costa Smeralda Passengers Allowed to Disembark after Coronavirus Scare

 Over 6,000 passengers who were kept on board a cruise ship in Italy all day Thursday amid fears that one of the passengers might have been infected with coronavirus have received clearance to disembark.

The decision was announced after a female passenger, who was experiencing flu-like symptoms and fever, underwent medical tests to rule out a possible link to the deadly coronavirus.

The woman in her 50ies and her husband, both reportedly of Chinese nationality, boarded Costa Smeralda on Saturday, January 25, and were put in isolation on Wednesday night after coming down with the flu-like symptoms. The Italian authorities banned anyone from disembarking the ship until medical tests were conducted, putting the ship on lockdown.

“Carnival Corporation & plc and the company’s Italian brand Costa Cruises have confirmed that Italian health officials diagnosed a passenger on board a ship docked in Civitavecchia, north of Rome, Italy with the common flu. The ship will resume its Mediterranean program on Friday,” Carnival said in a statement on Thursday.

“Guests who should have disembarked today can either disembark or remain on board overnight, at their discretion. All guests scheduled to embark today will be accommodated in hotels near the port and embark on Friday.”

MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises also had to suspend several of their sailings planned for this and next week in order to comply with the measures being undertaken by the Chinese authorities to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Initial estimates indicate that the death toll from the coronavirus in China stands at 170, with 7,711 confirmed cases of infections.