• The Costa Smeralda on 7-day Med cruise – including stops in France and Spain – quarantined in Coronavirus alert

The Costa Smeralda on a 7-day cruise of the Mediterranean, including stops in France and Palma de Mallorca, Spain, was quarantined upon returning to Civitavecchia, Italy on Thursday, due to the suspect of Caronovirus.

The Cruise ship was quarantined in port city of Civitavecchia, near Rome, after a female was taken ill.

A Chinese woman, aged 54, has been put in isolation – along with her husband – and both have undergone testing for coronavirus.

The cruise ship is placed on lockdown – until results from a hospital in Rome are revealed – with 6,000 passengers and 1,000 crew stuck on board.

Concern arose when the Port’s captain tried to disembark 1,000 people on Thursday afternoon – a move stopped by the city mayor.

Chaos erupted in the Italian city of Civitavecchia, due to the possibility of passengers carrying coronavirus.

The isolsted woman from Macau is thought to have alerted medics on the ship to symptoms – including fever and respiratory problems on Wednesday.

Passengers on board the cruiseliner are wearing face masks amongst a reported 750 Chinese passengers.

350 passengers boarded in Savona, the same port as the infected isolated couple.

Since the cruisliner docked in Civitavecchia, three doctors and a nurse boarded and were taken to the medical bay to test the woman and her husband for coronavirus.

The Costa Smeralda, the company’s flagship and the fifth-largest cruise ship in the world, arrived  in Italy from Palma de Mallorca.

The Costa Smeralda had been on a 7-day cruise around the Mediterranean, including stops in France and Spain, when it returned to Civitavecchia on Thursday.