Officials are preparing to receive thousands of people on board a cruise ship with at least 21 people on board infected by the coronavirus.
Fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland, as authorities organised flights and buses to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers aboard the Grand Princess to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine.
More than 3,500 people on the ship hail from 54 countries.
Dr John Redd of the US Department of Health and Human Services, said: “We’re making every effort to get them off the ship as safely and quickly as possible.”
As the US death toll from the virus reached at least 21 and the number of cases worldwide passed above 110,000, California Governor Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Oakland sought to reassure the public that none of the Grand Princess passengers would be exposed to the US public before completing the quarantine.
The Port of Oakland was chosen for docking because of its proximity to an airport and a military base, Mr Newsom said.
US passengers will be transported to military bases in California, Texas and Georgia, where they will be tested for the Covid-19 virus and quarantined.
About 1,100 crew on the ship, 19 of whom have tested positive for the new virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, Mr Newsom said.
“That ship will turn around — and they are currently assessing appropriate places to bring that quarantined ship – but it will not be here in the San Francisco Bay,” he said.
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