Cruise ships taken off course as anti-virus controls widen

[turbinetree]

By JOE McDONALD and ANGELA CHARLTON
an hour ago

BEIJING (AP) — The spreading new virus -- or fears of it -- immobilized cruise ships or left them searching for ports on four continents Saturday as the bug that has infected more than 100,000 people shifted its travel patterns.

Iran declared a “sacred jihad” against the virus after its case numbers spiked anew. Italy shut down its courts, and the Vatican decided to livestream the pope’s Sunday blessing. Cruise ships faced trouble in waters of the United States, Malaysia, Egypt and Malta as those aboard got tested or confined to cabins.

In China, the number of people recovering from COVID-19 mounted. But hopeful signs had not erased the scope of the recent crisis in the country where the new virus emerged late last year.

A hotel used for the medical observation of people who had contact with infected patients collapsed Saturday in southeastern China on Saturday, trapping some 70 people, news reports said. There were no immediate reports of deaths.

At least 23 people were rescued from the wreckage of the Xinjia Express Hotel in Quanzhou, the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily and other outlets reported.

https://apnews.com/aead767ef62712b6484ddb64556250a3

Charlton reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Colleen Barry in Milan; David Rising in Berlin; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

[customerserviceguy]

1. This should be the death

of the cruise ship industry. At best, they're floating hotels that you can only get off of for a few hours a day. At worst, they're giant disease dispensaries.