Nearly 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ from Singapore were told to stay in their cabins after a Covid-19 case was detected on board, forcing the Quantum of the Seas ship back to port, authorities said.
All passengers had cleared a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test for Covid-19 up to three days before the cruise started on Monday, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said.
The infected passenger, an 83-year-old man, had reported to the onboard medical centre with diarrhoea, and others on board were told of the infection early today.
Royal Caribbean and the STB said all guests and crew of the ship who had close contact with the infected guest had subsequently tested negative for the virus.
The passengers and crew will stay onboard in their rooms until contact tracing is complete, Annie Chang, director of the cruise segment at the STB said.
They will all undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing before leaving the terminal.
In the meantime, they are being given regular updates and meals are provided directly to their rooms.
Latest coronavirus stories
The ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ by Royal Caribbean is one of its first sailings since the company halted global operations in March due to the coronavirus.
There were 1,680 guests and 1,148 crew members on board, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said.
The global cruise industry has taken a major hit from the pandemic, with some of the earliest big outbreaks found on cruise ships. In one case in February off the coast of Japan, passengers were stuck for weeks aboard the Diamond Princess with over 700 guests and crew infected.
Royal Caribbean’s ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ is open only to Singapore residents, makes no stops and sails just off the city-state.
The cruises are a part of Singapore’s plans to revive its tourism industry that has been battered due to the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 67.7 million people globally and killed 1,548,575.
Singapore, which has had just over 58,000 cases and 29deaths, has been reporting less than a handful of local infections in recent weeks.
The case on board is another setback for Singapore after a plan to open a quarantine-free air travel bubble with Hong Kong last month was postponed at the eleventh hour.
Part of the precautions for the resumption of cruises in Singapore involved the pre-departure testing and for guests to carry an electronic contact tracing device and to social distance at all times.
South Korea’s new coronavirus infections at second highest in new wave
South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases as it battles a third wave of infection that is threatening to overwhelm its medical system.
The daily tally was the second-highest since the start of the pandemic, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). New cases have been consistently around 600 over the past week.
Tougher social distancing rules took effect yesterday, including unprecedented curfews on restaurants and most other businesses.
The government has also introduced a new testing method to cater to surging demand, and eased rules to release some recovered patients faster to free up hospital beds.
The government has signed deals with four global drugmakers as part of a programme to procure Covid-19 vaccines for 44million people.
South Korea’s total infections stand at 39,432, with 556 deaths.