Chinese passengers test negative for coronavirus on quarantined Italian ship
Some 6,000 tourists, including 27 Turks, were trapped on a cruise ship in the port of Civitavecchia in Italy as tests were carried out on two Chinese passengers suspected of having caught coronavirus. Initial tests ruled out any coronavirus infection, officials told Italian media.
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A cruise ship was to remain in an Italian port with some 7,000 people on board until Jan. 31, even after tests showed that a passenger who came down with fever and respiratory symptoms didn’t have coronavirus.
The Italian health ministry said late on Jan. 30 that two suspect cases tested negative to the disease. After the test results, port authorities said that the ship would remain in port overnight and passengers would be allowed to disembark early Jan. 31 morning.
About 6,000 passengers, including 27 Turkish citizens, and 1,000 crew were trapped on the Italian ship, the Costa Smeralda, after one Chinese woman fell ill with a “high fever,” Italian news agency ANSA reported.
She and her husband “were tested by experts from Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases and viruses,” the agency said.
The couple were held in isolation in a medical room aboard the ship.
Initial tests for the Chinese couple have come back negative, but the authorities will keep them in isolation for a total of 24 hours to conduct more detailed tests, ANSA said.
A total of 27 Turkish nationals were also among the passengers trapped on the cruise ship, the Turkish Embassy in Rome told Turkey's Anadolu Agency. Ambassador Murat Salim Esenli told Turkish broadcaster NTV that the Turkish passengers on board the Italian ship had not yet contacted them but they were ready to “step in if Turkish passengers needed any help.”