Cruise ship in Italy in lockdown over feared Coronavirus case

The Costa Smeralda cruise ship docked in the Civitavecchia port on Thursday; (right) A health official checks passengers. Pics/AFP

Civitavecchia: Over 6,000 tourists were blocked on a cruise ship in Italy on Thursday after the vast liner was placed on lockdown over two suspected cases of the deadly Coronavirus. Samples from a Chinese couple were sent for testing after three doctors and a nurse boarded the Costa Crociere ship in the port of Civitavecchia to tend to a woman running a fever, the local health authorities said.

Costa Crociere confirmed the ship, carrying some 7,000 people including the crew, was in lockdown. It said 'a 54-year old woman from Macau was placed in solitary confinement in the on-board hospital last night with her travel companion,' and was following instructions from the health ministry.

Tibet reports first case
Tibet has reported the first confirmed case of novel Coronavirus pneumonia, Chinese health authorities said on Thursday. The first case was reported after a 34-year-old man from China's Hubei province. The patient is from the city of Suizhou in Central China's Hubei province. He came to Lhasa by train from the provincial capital Wuhan on January 24 and was hospitalised on January 25.

Two detained in Kazakhstan
Two ambulance drivers were detained for spreading rumours about a Coronavirus infection in Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country that borders China, Kazakh police said. "They heard something and began to spread the information via the WhatsApp messenger services," Sergei Neznayev, a spokesman said.

170
Total no. of people dead in China due to Coronavirus

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever