7,000 people held on Cruise Ship as Wuhan Coronavirus fears spread

Roughly 7,000 people are being kept on a cruise ship in Italy as a female passenger and her husband are being tested for the Wuhan coronavirus.

A spokesperson for Costa Cruises told CNN that a 54-year-old woman and her husband, from Hong Kong, were being evaluated as the woman was suffering a fever.

"All the other passengers are, at the moment remaining on board," the spokesperson said.


Of the 7,000 people on board, around 1,000 are crew members.

The Costa Smeralda cruise ship is seen docked at the Civitavecchia port near Rome, Italy, on Thursday. Andrew Medichini/AP

Italian news agency ANSA and public broadcaster RAI reported that the woman and her husband were from Hong Kong and were being kept separately in solitary confinement in the hospital section of the Costa Smeralda cruiseliner. The couple will be held until the couple both test negative to the virus.


Images show the ship docked at Civitavecchia port, a coastal town northwest of Rome, after arriving Palma de Majorca, Spain.

The couple are expected to receive their results this afternoon, ANSA reports. They are said to have arrived in Italy on January 25 at Milan's Malpensa airport from Macao.

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This article first appeared on CNN.

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