Photo/Illutration The Italian cruise ship Costa Atlantica is docked at the Koyagi factory of the Nagasaki shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Nagasaki on April 22. (Eiji Hori)

NAGASAKI--Fourteen crew members of a large Italian cruise ship docked here have contracted the novel coronavirus, the prefectural government announced on April 23. 

The Costa Atlantica cruise ship, employing 623 crew members, has been docked at the Koyagi factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Nagasaki shipyard.

The 14 new cases add to the ship's 34 existing coronavirus cases, confirmed as of April 22, bringing the total to 48.

One of them is in serious condition. No passengers are currently aboard.

Nagasaki Prefecture has recorded 65 infection cases in total, including those confirmed on the cruise ship.

The ship’s crew consists almost entirely of foreign nationals, except for one member. The prefectural government plans to have all crew members tested for coronavirus by April 24.

It began preferentially testing 130 crew members on April 22.

Sixty-six people were tested that day; 14 people--cooks and kitchen crew--tested positive, while the rest tested negative.

Members of the Self-Defense Forces entered the ship on April 23 to speed testing, following a request by the prefecture that they conduct disaster relief efforts there.

The cruise ship is operated by Italian company Costa Crociere S.p.A. It was scheduled for repairs in China, but it docked in Japan instead due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It was repaired between Feb. 20 and March 25 at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' factory. It then operated at sea on a trial basis before returning and has been docked here since.