California officials to receive passengers from coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship

On March 9, federal and state officials claimed that they were preparing to receive thousands of people from the cruise ship Grand Princess. The cruise ship Grand Princess has been close to the coast of San Francisco. As per reports, there are at least 21 people with confirmed coronavirus cases on board.

Prepares for arrival

According to reports, fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland. Flight and busses have been readied for more than 2,000 passengers that will be disembarking from the Grand Princess. The 3,500 passengers on board hail from 54 countries and busses and flights will take the passengers to military bases or their home country where they will undergo a 14-day quarantine.

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As per reports, John Redd of the US Department of Health and Human Services has urged the passengers to remain in their rooms and has assured the passengers that they were making every effort to get them off the ship as safely and quickly as possible. The US State Department on March 8 in an announcement urged its citizens not to travel on cruise ships claiming that there was an increased risk on infection aboard cruise ships.

Cruise ship not allowed to dock

The operators of the cruise ship Costa Fortuna announced that it was heading to Singapore to end its journey as planned. According to reports, the Costa Fortuna will end its journey on March 10 after being turned away from ports in Malaysia and Thailand over coronavirus fears.

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The Italian Cruise Liner has reported that it has no virus cases on board. As per reports, the passengers on board include Italians. Italy has reported the largest number of virus cases outside China with 7,375 reported cases and 366 deaths. The operators of Costa Fortuna have announced that they will be cancelling the cruise trip that was due to depart on March 10 from Singapore.