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

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

The Everett-based vessel has a crew of around 300, and by Tuesday afternoon, 63 per cent of the crew had been tested, according to a report from the Daily Herald, one of the leading news sources in Everett and Snohomish County in western state of Washington, Xinhua news agency reported.

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.