Over 6,000 trapped aboard ship at Italian port over virus fears

Over 6,000 tourists have been trapped aboard a cruise ship at an Italian port as a Chinese couple on the giant ship is being tested for the coronavirus.

The passengers on board the Costa Smerelda, which is on a one-week trip in the western Mediterranean, were not allowed to disembark the ship in the port of Civitavecchia in northern Italy on Thursday after three doctors and a nurse boarded the vessel to tend to a Chinese woman suffering from a fever.

The local health authorities said samples from the 54-year old woman and her companion were sent for testing to know whether they have the flu-like virus which has killed 170 people so far in China and reached at least 15 countries.

According to Cruise line Costa Crociere, the ship is carrying some 7,000 people in total, including the crew.

Costa said a woman from Macau "was placed in solitary confinement in the on-board hospital last night with her travel companion".

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the government was "not worried, but vigilant and cautious".

"My son told me the Chinese couple had been wearing masks for the past two or three days, but they thought nothing of it," said Adriano Pavan, whose son and two grandchildren were on board.

Media reports said the couple arrived in Italy on Saturday, before getting on board at Italy’s northern port city of Savona.

"The couple's cabin has been isolated and they are in with the doctors," ANSA news agency quoted an unnamed passenger as saying.

"We're a bit worried of course. No one is getting on or off the ship apart from the doctors. This holiday risks ending in a nightmare."

Air France halts all flights to China

In response to the deadly viral outbreak in China, Air France announced the suspension of all its scheduled flights to and from mainland China until February 9.

"Customers with a booking to or from China for departures on or before February 29, 2020, may change their flight until May 31, 2020, or request a refund, at no extra cost," the airline said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement came after Air France initially suspended until further notice its flights to and from the quarantined Chinese city of Wuhan, which is believed to be the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, on January 22.

Egypt to suspend flights, repatriate citizens

Egypt’s state-owned airline also said that it would suspend all flights to and from mainland China starting Saturday.

The country's civil aviation ministry said in a statement on Thursday that EgyptAir will suspend flights from and to the city of Hangzhou starting from Saturday followed by flights to and from Beijing and Guangzhou on February 4 until further notice.

The statement noted that the last Chinese tourist group in Egypt will leave on February 4.

Cairo also announced that it would dispatch a special flight to repatriate Egyptian nationals from Wuhan. The evacuated citizens would be put in quarantine for 14 days on their return home.

Vietnam to stop issuing visas for Chinese tourists

Vietnam’s government said on Thursday that it will stop issuing visas for Chinese tourists after three new cases of coronavirus emerged in the southeast Asian country. The three people had all recently returned from Wuhan.

Cross-border trade between Vietnam and China is not encouraged at the moment, the government said in a statement. "The outbreak is spreading rapidly, and in a serious manner."

The three new cases brought to four the number of active cases as Vietnam's health ministry announced last week that two Chinese nationals had tested positive for coronavirus. One has since recovered.

According to the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA), most of the border gates between Vietnam and China in the northern province of Lang Son have stopped imports and exports of goods until February 9.

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