ROME — More than 100 Americans are on board a cruise ship that has a passenger showing symptoms of the coronavirus, officials said Thursday.
“The guest, a 54 years old lady of Chinese nationality, is currently put on isolation on the onboard hospital since last night together with her travel mate, in line with health protocols.” said a statement from Costa Crociere, an Italian company that operates the Costa Smeralda ship, which is carrying 1,000 crew members and 6,000 passengers.
Of those travelers, 114 are American, cruise line spokesman Davide Barbano said.
“Costa Cruises confirms the sanitary protocol has been activated for a guest on-board of Costa Smeralda,” the cruise operator said in a statement.
“As soon as the suspected case was detected, the Medical Team on board immediately activated all the relevant health procedures to promptly isolate and manage the clinical condition.”
The ship has 1,143 passengers who are scheduled to end their cruise in Civitavecchia, a port city about 50 miles northwest of Rome.
Health officials with the maritime authority in Civitavecchia have given those travelers permission to leave the ship — but that city’s mayor has denied disembarkment, creating a standoff, according to a spokesman for the maritime authority.
More than 7,800 people in China have been infected by the virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan. China has reported 170 deaths.
Claudio Lavanga reported from Rome and David K. Li from New York
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