Concerns that passengers on board a cruise ship may have contracted coronavirus caused around 6,000 people to be held on the ship until further notice.
The cruise ship is called the Costa Smeralda and is being held in Civitavecchia, Italy. Nobody is able to get off the ship until health officials are able to investigate after worries that two passengers on the ship could have the virus.
According to the Costa Crociere cruise company’s spokesperson, the two passengers on the ship are a Chinese couple who had reported symptoms similar to that of the virus. The couple came aboard the ship on Jan. 25 in Savona, Italy.
The main person of concern is a 54-year-old woman from Macau. She has been moved to isolation and her husband is being examined by health officials but has not shown symptoms so far.
While travelling around Europe the ship has stopped in France, Marseilles and Spain. On Thursday the ship made its stop in Italy.
The spokesperson noted that it would probably take “a few hours” before everything is figured out.
It was determined after several hours there was no coronavirus on board.
Some passengers were mad that they were not receiving enough information while they waited. One passenger named Marina Guerrero tweeted “We are people!” from the cruise ship on Thursday.
Guerrero attached a video displaying passengers waiting anxiously on the ship.
Costa Crociere is a part of Carnival Cruises which is one of the world’s largest cruise companies.
The Costa Smeralda has the ability to hold 6,600 passengers and over 1,000 crew members on top of that.
On Wednesday, three trips were canceled by Royal Caribbean Cruises as fear of an outbreak of the virus spreading to sea rises.
The coronavirus has killed over 170 people in China so far and has spread to Canada and other countries around the world including the U.S. and Australia.