Cruise passengers quarantined in Greece after coronavirus case, Tunisia suspends ferry with northern Italy
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Cruise passengers were temporarily quarantined after docking in Greece due to a case of coronavirus.
Holidaymakers on the MSC Opera were kept on board the vessel on Wednesday after a former passenger tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
The Austrian national had stayed on the ship during a two-week East Mediterranean cruise in February before travelling through northern Italy, which is facing Europe’s biggest outbreak.
MSC Cruises said it was informed by Austrian health officials on Wednesday that the former passenger had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The company said it contacted Greek health authorities after the MSC Opera, which can carry more than 3,300 passengers and crew, arrived in the port city of Piraeus.
Meanwhile Tunisia will suspend passenger ferry services to northern Italy and take other measures in response to the spreading coronavirus, Health Minister Abdelatif el-Mekki announced.
Tunisia confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Monday, a Tunisian national who had recently arrived from Italy by sea.
On Wednesday, Italian Education Minister Lucia Azzolina announced that Italy’s schools and universities will close from today, Thursday, till March 15 due to the coronavirus.
Some 2,706 people are now infected with the coronavirus in Italy, 443 more than Tuesday, and 107 people have died with the virus, 28 up, emergency commissioner and civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli said Wednesday.
Some 276 have now recovered, 116 more than Tuesday, he said.
The rise in those cured was 72.5%, the biggest in the last few days.
