More than 6,000 tourists have been put on lockdown on a cruise ship in Italy on Thursday after a suspected case of coronavirus was detected on board the vast liner.

Axar.az reports citing Aljazeera that samples taken from a Chinese couple were sent for testing after three doctors and a nurse boarded the Costa Crociere ship in the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, to tend to a woman running a fever, local health authorities said.

Costa Crociere has confirmed that its ship, the Costa Smeralda, carrying some 7,000 people including crew, was in lockdown.

"We did all that we needed to do. The situation is under control and at the moment it does not seem like there are many reasons for concern onboard," coastguard commander Vincenzo Leone was quoted as saying by ANSA.