(Reuters) – Twenty-one people have tested positive for coronavirus aboard a cruise ship denied entry to San Francisco Bay this week after a number of passengers and crew developed flu-like symptoms on the vessel, which was linked to previously confirmed COVID-19 infections.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, announcing results of the tests during a White House briefing, also said the cruise ship Grand Princess will be brought to an unspecified non-commercial port where all passengers and crew, about 3,500 people, will be tested for coronavirus.
Diagnostic test kits were flown by an Air National Guard helicopter on Thursday to the cruise ship, where medical staff took samples from 46 passengers and crew to determine if they have contracted the respiratory virus.
The samples were carried back to a state laboratory in the Bay area. Pence said