Virus-hit US cruise ship to dock as New York declares health emergency
Los Angeles: A US cruise ship hit by coronavirus was given permission late Saturday to dock, while New York announced a state of emergency as confirmed cases across the country surged past 400.
The fast-spreading virus has already spread to 30 US states, killing at least 19 people, while the American capital announced its first case Saturday and citizens were coming to terms with public events being canceled across the country.
The Grand Princess cruise ship has recorded 21 COVID-19 infections on board -- 19 crew and two American passengers -- out of 45 people tested.
Authorities ordered the vessel to remain at sea off the coast of San Francisco, where it was due to dock Saturday following a 14-day trip to Hawaii, after it emerged that a passenger on a previous voyage had contracted the virus and later died.
The vessel will instead go to nearby Oakland on Monday and begin disembarking passengers in need of "acute medical treatment," vessel owner Princess Cruises said in a statement.
The ship's crew will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, the company added.
Around half of the vessel's 1,100 crew hail from the Philippines and several are among those diagnosed with the virus, according to Princes Cruises.
Vice President Mike Pence, who is managing the US government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, said earlier that all 3,533 passengers and crew would be tested for coronavirus and quarantined if necessary.
Further south in Los Angeles, passengers aboard another cruise ship were told they must remain on the vessel overnight.
The order came after a woman was taken off the Carnival Panorama cruise ship to be tested for the virus, the Long Beach Post reported.
Nationwide, more than 400 people have contracted the virus so far, with dozens of new cases emerging daily.
New York became the latest state to declare an emergency as the number of patients there rose to 89, including a driver who apparently worked for ride-sharing company Uber.
The announcement came as the first US service member stationed at home tested positive.
Maryland officials also reported that two people who were at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference attended by Pence and President Donald Trump had tested positive for the virus.
Starbucks reported that one of its employees in downtown Seattle had tested positive, and the store shut for cleaning.
Asked whether he was worried about the virus getting closer to the White House, Trump said he was "not concerned at all." He also said he did not plan to cut his public engagements.
"We'll hold tremendous rallies," said Trump before hosting a dinner in Florida for the president of Brazil. Public events have been canceled across the US in an effort to contain the epidemic.
Casualties include Texas-based South by Southwest festival, a Mariah Carey concert, the Facebook F8 Developers Conference, Miami's Ultra Music Festival and several university sports events.
The fate of the Grand Princess is reminiscent of the Diamond Princess, a sister vessel that suffered its own coronavirus outbreak while moored off the coast of Japan.
Carolyn Wright, 63, a passenger on the Grand Princess, told AFP that there had been growing concern and frustration aboard the vessel.
"I'm really happy there's finally a plan, I just wish we knew more as to what's going to happen to us," she said.
Fellow passenger Kari Kolstoe, 60, told CNN she had stage 4 cancer and was worried she wouldn't make it home in time to start chemotherapy treatment on Monday.
"I'm in extremely delicate health right now," Kolstoe, who is traveling with her husband, told the outlet.
"If I don't have the coronavirus, I need to get that found out sooner rather than later."
The number of worldwide coronavirus cases exceeds 100,000 and the overall death toll is more than 3,500 across 95 nations and territories, according to the latest count by AFP.
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Four held for Rs 6.79 cr loot at Mumbai jewellery shop; thermal drones used to scan forest hideouts
Mumbai (PTI): Four persons were arrested after an intense 48-day manhunt deep inside the forests of Rajasthan for allegedly stealing jewellery worth Rs 6.79 crore from a shop in north Mumbai, a police official said on Monday.
The theft of gold, silver and diamonds from the safe of complainant Sanket Porwal's shop in IC Colony in Borival West took place in January, the MHB police station official said.
"Our probe found that shop employees Prabhu Singh and Narayan Singh allegedly used a duplicate key to unlock the safe and flee with the valuables. Technical analysis traced them to Rajasthan, following which a team went there. The trail eventually led investigators to the dense forest regions of Rajsamand district in the western state," he said.
The accused avoided staying in villages and continued to move deeper into the forest to avoid arrest, the official said. They also kept moving from Rajsamand to Chittorgarh, Sardargarh and Pali districts, he added.
"For 48 days, police officers camped in the jungles, relying on human intelligence and advanced surveillance techniques. Thermal drones were used to scan forest zones where the accused were suspected to be hiding. Further probe revealed the involvement of others identified as Ganpat Singh, Kishan Singh and Mod Singh," he said.
One key accused was traced to a temple located deep inside a forest near Muwariya village in Rajsamand district, while two others were picked up from Kuwariya village based on a tip off, the official added.
Three kilograms of gold worth Rs 4.5 crore as well as five kilograms of silver worth Rs 15 lakh have been seized, and efforts are on to recover the remaining loot, he said.
