CIVITAVECCHIA PORT - Thousands of people who'd been hoping to enjoy a relaxing cruise found themselves confined to a cruise ship in Italy due to concerns related to the Wuhan coronavirus.

The cruise ship is in a port near Rome and it's carrying approximately 7,000 people. 

CNN reports that all 7,000 are confined while an elderly couple is being tested for coronavirus.

A spokesperson for Costa Cruises told CNN that a 54-year-old woman aboard was suffering from a fever and that she and her husband were both being tested. 

Italian news agency ANSA and public broadcaster RAI reported that the woman and her husband were from Hong Kong and were being kept separately in solitary confinement in the hospital section of the cruiseliner.

The Costa Smeralda cruise ship is now docked at Civitavecchia port, a coastal town northwest of Rome. It had arrived from Palma de Majorca, Spain, as part of its tour of the western Mediterranean.

The passengers and crew will be held until the woman and her husband both test negative to the virus.

The couple is expected to receive results Thursday afternoon, ANSA reports. They are said to have arrived in Italy on January 25 at Milan's Malpensa airport from Macau.