Bali tourists say coronavirus won't ruin vacation – UNTV News

REUTERS Coronavirus test kits were delivered to sea Thursday, March 5, to an ocean liner banned from returning to the port of San Francisco after at least 35 people developed flu-like symptoms aboard the ship, which were linked to two other confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The diagnostic sampling kits were transported by helicopter to the cruise ship Grand Princess, which, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom, would be kept offshore until the passengers and the crew fallen ill can be tested for possible coronavirus infection.

The delivery operation was organized by the United States Coast Guard, according to Scott Pauley, spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also helps coordinate efforts.

He said that a helicopter carried a batch of test kits on the ship, and that a photograph taken on board the ship by a passenger and sent to Reuters showed a military helicopter descending near the ship.

The grand princess was due to return to San Francisco on Wednesday evening after a 15-day trip to and from Hawaii, with 2,383 passengers and 1,100 crew members, Mary Ellen Caroll, executive director of the department of the city's emergency management, said at a press conference on Thursday.

But Newsom acted to keep the ship in port after learning that some people on board – 35 according to Carroll – had symptoms compatible with COVID-19, a respiratory disease that infected more than 95,000 people worldwide, most of them China, where the virus originated.

Two passengers who traveled on the same ship on a trip last month between San Francisco and Mexico then fell ill and tested positive for coronavirus. Health officials say they have likely contracted the disease on board the ship.

One, an old man from Placer County near Sacramento with underlying health conditions, died this week, the first documented coronavirus death in California. The other, from the bay area, was described by Newsom as critically ill.

Cruise company Princess, a unit of Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise operator, said fewer than 100 passengers and crew members of the Hawaii trip had been identified for testing, including those who were sick.

Tests will also be done on dozens of "remaining" passengers from the Mexico trip who stayed on the ship for the Hawaii trip, and "passengers currently being treated for respiratory illnesses," the cruise line said in a statement.

Pauley said the company would follow CDC guidelines to quarantine symptomatic people until the test results are returned, a process that, according to Carroll, should take approximately 24 hours.

Newsom said state health officials, in collaboration with the CDC and local health officials, were trying to contact some 2,500 passengers who participated in the previous cruise to Mexico.

It was not immediately known what would happen if someone on board the ship was positive.

"Once we have the test results, the CDC and the state will determine the most suitable location for the ship to dock, and the location must ensure the safety of the surrounding community as well as passengers and crew, "said Carroll. journalists.

She said the ship could be directed to an arrival point other than San Francisco.

The governor declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

California health officials have confirmed 59 cases, just behind Washington State, where authorities have documented 70.

The plight of the Grand Princess was reminiscent of the cruise liner Diamond Princess, which was quarantined off Japan in February and was the largest concentration of coronavirus cases outside of China for a time.

Some American passengers on this ship were eventually repatriated to military bases in California for extended quarantines.

(Production: Rollo Ross)