Spain has closed its border with Gibraltar due to concerns over a cruise ship loaded with hundreds of ill British tourists that has been cleared to dock in Gibraltar.
The closure marks the first time the border between Spain and Gibraltar has been sealed since it was fully reopened in 1985.
The Aurorahas been steaming toward Gibraltar, a tiny British colony on the southern coast of Spain, ever since leaving the Greek port of Piraeus on Friday when authorities there refused to allow passengers or crew to get off.
Doctors in Greece treated the passengers and loaded the cruise ship with medical supplies for patients suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting.
But Gibraltar said the outbreak of viral gastroenteritis was nearly over, with only 11 people sick out of 559 who had been affected by the 24-hour virus. There were seven new cases on Sunday, Gibraltar said.
"The Gibraltar Government will allow the P&O Cruise Ship Aurorato enter Gibraltar and for her healthy passengers to disembark, as normal, as occurred in Venice and Dubrovnik," the government said in a statement released late on Sunday.
"As a precaution passengers who have suffered or shown symptoms of the virus at any time after midnight last Thursday will not be allowed to come ashore," the statement said.
Some 1,900 tourists and 837 crew were on board the ship, which left Southampton on October 20th on a 17-day round trip.