64 sailors test positive for COVID-19 aboard US Navy destroyer

The number of sailors testing positive for Covid-19 aboard US Navy destroyer, the USS Kidd, rose to 64 as the warship on Tuesday afternoon docked at a naval base in San Diego, California, Xinhua news agency reported citing local media.

The Everett-based vessel has a crew of around 300, and by Tuesday afternoon, 63 per cent of the crew had been tested positive to the virus, according to a report published in the Daily Herald.

All are expected to be tested eventually, the report quoted Lt. Cmdr. Megan Isaac with Navy Office of Information as saying.

The ship is expected to be disinfected and cleaned in San Diego, while the crew isolated and quarantined, said the report.

The Navy destroyer is the second US warship to be hit by an outbreak of the coronavirus while at sea following the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier.

Prior to the outbreak, the Kidd had been assigned to the recently enhanced counter-narcotics mission in the Eastern Pacific aimed at countering illicit drug trafficking.

( With inputs from ANI )