Cruise ship Costa Luminosa (IMO 9398905) had 36 people on board infected with coronavirus when tests were undertaken on passengers during a stop in the French port of Marseilles, French authorities said on Friday March 20th. The vessel was bound for Savona in Italy, scheduled to leave Marseilles on Friday evening.
On Thursday and Friday the Costa Luminosa had disembarked 639 of its 1,421 passengers in Marseilles, while French medical staff tested passengers and crew members who had shown symptoms of coronavirus infection.
One passenger, a Swiss national aged more than 70, was taken to a Marseilles hospital.
Costa Luminosa had left Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 5th on a cruise ultimately bound for Venice, Italy. Just days later two unwell passengers disembarked in Puerto Rico who were later diagnosed with coronavirus. It also dropped off four sick passengers on Tenerife in the Canaries.
Before docking in Marseilles Costa Luminosa’s captain had declared to authorities that 75 people had symptoms of the virus or had been in contact with people with it.
Among those allowed to disembark on Thursday and Friday were 235 Americans and 77 Canadians, who were taken by bus to Marseilles airport, from where they flew to Atlanta. Five of the passengers on that flight had symptoms of coronavirus, according to the prefecture.
Ten Spanish nationals were taken to the airport for a flight to Barcelona, while 187 French nationals were taken home by bus.
All passengers who disembarked – with or without symptoms – were provided with facemasks, which they had to wear until they could be confined in their homes.
2009-built, Italy-flagged, 92,720 gt Costa Luminosa is owned and managed by Costa Crociere of Genoa, Italy. ISM manager is Carnival Maritime GmbH of Hamburg, Germany.