Last updated: 12.27 pm
Around 6,000 passengers have reportedly been banned from disembarking a Costa Cruises ship near Rome over fears a Chinese couple have coronavirus.
Tests are currently being carried out on board Costa Smeralda, which is docked at the port of Civitavecchia.
The couple boarded the vessel on January 25, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Meanwhile, British Airways is extending the cancellation of flights to mainland China until the end of February
Services to and from Beijing and Shanghai will remain suspended until February 29.
The airline initially suspended flights to the Chinese mainland up until Febriary 23.
Flights to and from Hong Kong remain unaffected.”
BA said:”We are continuing to review our flights beyond 29 February.”
Meanwhile, Gold Medal and Travel 2 are returning clients from China as local authorities confirmed that coronavirus had spread to every region on the mainland.
The dnata-owned sister operators have an unspecified “small number” of customers currently in China.
“We are actively working alongside our industry partners to make arrangements with each customer for their return to the UK,” the company said.
“We have supported passengers in resort and have worked with our agent partners to ensure all passengers in or due to travel to the country have been contacted.
“We have contacted all agents who have package passengers in resort to offer assistance.
“Regular updates are being posted across our social feeds and we have a dedicated crisis phone number. We are encouraging any agents who require any further information or support to contact us.”
Imminent Gold Medal and Travel 2 departures on package tours in the coming weeks to China have been cancelled.
The numbers of deaths from the virus has risen to 170 with more than 7,700 confirmed cases in China and infections reported in at least 16 other countries.
The Foreign Office continues to advise against all travel to Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China, with the exception of Hong Kong and Macao.
The FCO warned that it may become harder over the coming weeks for those who wish to leave China to do so as airlines suspend flights to the mainland.
Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines have cancelled flights to and from the country – excluding Hong Kong – until February 9 with bookings suspended until the end of February.
The airlines operate a total of 54 weekly connections from Germany, Switzerland and Austria to the Chinese mainland. Destinations are Nangjing, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qingdao.
KLM is cutting flights to Chengdu and Hangzhou from today and Xiamen from Friday.
The number of weekly flights to Shanghai is being reduced from 11 to seven a week
Virgin Atlantic is continuing to operate its London-Shanghai route
However, the Dutch flag carrier said that “there is no reason to suspend the entire operation to China” although the network is being adapted “in view of the decline in bookings”.
The airline added: “KLM will continue to closely follow the guidelines of the authorities and organisations as well as the bookings and will make further decisions based on this.”
Korean Air has cancelled flights between Seoul and Wuhan until March 27, and will suspend or reduce the frequency of other services to China from February 2 as a result of falling demand due to coronavirus.
Virgin Atlantic is continuing to fly to Shanghai from London although the airline is monitoring the conoravirus situation.
MSC Cruises has pulled MSC Splendida’s next three sailings from Shanghai. The line will move the ship to Singapore, where it will start a 27-night Grand Voyage to the Middle East and Europe on February 14.
Passengers had been due to embark the 27-night Grand Voyage sailing in Shanghai.
The line has added four new ports of call to the itinerary: Langkawi, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, all Malaysia; and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
MSC Cruises chief executive Gianni Onorato said: “The decision to reposition the ship from Shanghai to Singapore has been taken in the best interests of the safety and wellbeing for our passengers and crew, as was the decision to cancel our next three scheduled sailings from China.”
Royal Caribbean Cruises confirmed that three sailings by China-based Spectrum of the Seas – including Chinese new year departures – had now been cancelled until February 8 and warned that an extended level of travel restrictions could negatively hit the finances of the group.
The parent company of brands such as Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara, said: “There are still too many variables and uncertainties regarding this outbreak to calculate the overall impact on the business.
“For example, we expect an erosion of consumer confidence in China could have an additional impact on load factor and rate in the region until the market normalises.
“If these travel restrictions continue for an extended period of time, they could have a material impact on the overall financial performance of the company.
“For the winter sailing season, the company only has one ship based in China; two additional ships are scheduled to join in May and July 2020, respectively. For all of 2020, China represents about 6% of the company’s capacity.”
Royal Caribbean described Spectrum of the Seas’ China cruises as “high yielding” and the cancellations will impact 2020 financial results by approximately $0.10 per share.
“If the travel restrictions in China continue until the end of February, the company estimates that this would further impact its results by an additional $0.10 per share,” it added.
Relevant permissions from Chinese officials had not yet come through.
The FCO said it was “working urgently” to organise a flight to the UK “as soon as possible”.