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Passengers onboard Costa Smeralda have been released from quarantine after two Chinese guests tested negative for the coronavirus at the centre of a global outbreak.

Italian health officials diagnosed a passenger on board the ship, docked in Civitavecchia, north of Rome, with common flu.

The ship will resume its Mediterranean program today.

The institute for infectious diseases in Italy examined samples taken from a woman taken ill with a fever, as well as her travelling companion.

Both were negative for coronavirus.

Over 6,000 passengers and crew had spent around 12 hours in lockdown.

Around 750 other Chinese passengers were on board and all appear to be in good health, officials added.

The Smeralda, the Costa flagship and the fifth-largest cruise ship in the world, had sailed in from Palma de Mallorca as part of a one-week trip in the western Mediterranean.

Coronavirus

The news came as the UN health agency declared an international emergency over the coronavirus from China, which reported its biggest single-day jump in deaths.

At least 213 people in the China have died from the virus, mostly in Hubei, with almost 10,000 cases nationally.

There have been 98 cases of the virus in 18 countries.

This morning, two cases of were confirmed by the chief medical officer in the UK for the first time.

Source: breakingtravelnews.com