(TAN): Over 6,000 passengers on board a cruise ship in Italy will be allowed to leave after a suspected case of Wuhan coronavirus was established as a false alarm earlier this week, reports said.
A Chinese woman, age 54, was put in isolation along with her travel partner aboard Italian cruise line Costa Cruises’ Costa Smeralda ship after she showed symptoms of the virus, as per reports.
Sanitary protocol was reportedly activated, and samples taken from the couple were sent for testing. However, the passenger was later diagnosed with common flu, reports said.
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“While we appreciate the inconvenience caused, the procedures in force and our cooperation with the Health Authorities were effective in managing this situation and were intended to ensure maximum safety for all our guests, crew and the community as a whole,” Costa Cruises was quoted by CNBC as saying.
Costa Smeralda had reportedly reached the Italian port of Civitavecchia after sailing from Savona in northern Italy and halting at the French port city of Marseille, Barcelona and Palma in Spain’s Mallorca island. According to reports, the ship, which had a seven-day itinerary, will depart for Savona from Civitavecchia today and continue with its schedule.
“We arrived in [Civitavecchia] with the Costa Smeralda cruise ship and they are not letting us off the boat. They say it’s due to a health inspection,” Gaby, a passenger, was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying.
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While health officials reportedly screened 6,000 guests and 1,000 crew members aboard Costa Smeralda, passengers were barred from disembarking until the kind of virus infecting the Chinese woman was found out.
“We did all that we needed to do. The situation is under control and at the moment it does not seem like there are any reasons for concern on board,” Al Jazeera quoted coastguard commander Vincenzo Leone as saying.
The World Health Organisation has declared the new coronavirus a global emergency as the outbreak has claimed at least 213 lives and sickened around 10,000, reports said.
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