Health officials will reside aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise until it hits port in New Jersey after a "fast-moving gut bug," sickened nearly 650 people.
According to NBC News, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will remain aboard to try and find the source of the gastrointestinal illness outbreak, which health officials believe is norvirus, a highly contagious virus that's often spread through infected people or contaminated food or water.
"Our team is on the ship and will stay on board until it returns to New Jersey," said Bernadette Burden, a spokeswoman for the CDC.
Since reports of the outbreak hit headlines, the number of victims has quickly increased. NBC News reported that currently 595 passengers and 50 crew members are infected. That's out of 3,050 passengers and 1,165 crew.
"Our people responded quickly and aggressively," Richard Fain, CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., told CNBC.
NBC News reported on Sunday that the Explorer of the Seas ship was expected to return two days ahead of schedule after passengers and crew members experienced symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.
"After returning to homeport on Wednesday, Jan. 29, we will perform a thorough 'barrier' sanitization program on the entire ship to make certain that any remaining traces of the illness are eliminated," the company said in a statement. "It will be the third aggressive sanitizing procedure the ship has undertaken since we became aware of the issue, and will additionally provide a window of more than 24 hours where there are no persons aboard the ship, which is a significant help."
Burden encourages passengers who are infected to remain in their cabins. They will be regularly checked by a physician aboard the ship. Last year, norovirus resulted in about "21 million illnesses, between 56,000 and 71,000 hospitalizations and as many as 800 deaths."
Rest and fluids are consider the only real treatment to the highly contagious virus. To clean infected areas, the CDC recommends using chlorine bleach or another certified disinfectant.
Fain stated in a press release that all passengers would be compensated for the days lost on the expected trip the U.S. Virgin Islands.
