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Nearly 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean ‘cruise to nowhere’ from Singapore were told to stay in their cabins after a case of Covid-19 was detected on board, forcing the Quantum of the Seas ship to return to port, authorities said.
All passengers had passed a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test for Covid-19 up to three days before the cruise began on Monday, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said.
The infected passenger, an 83-year-old man, had presented to the onboard medical center with diarrhea, and other people on board were informed of the infection earlier today.
Royal Caribbean and the STB said that all guests and ship’s crew who had close contact with the infected host had subsequently tested negative for the virus.
Passengers and crew will remain on board in their rooms until contact tracing is complete, said Annie Chang, director of the cruise segment at STB.
Everyone will undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing before leaving the terminal.
In the meantime, they receive regular updates and meals are delivered directly to their rooms.
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Royal Caribbean’s ‘cruise to nowhere’ is one of its first trips since the company halted its global operations in March due to the coronavirus.
There were 1,680 guests and 1,148 crew members on board, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.
The global cruise industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, with some of the first major outbreaks found on cruise ships. In one case in February off the coast of Japan, passengers were trapped for weeks aboard the Diamond Princess with more than 700 infected guests and crew.
Royal Caribbean’s ‘cruise to nowhere’ is open to Singapore residents only, makes no stops and sails right off the city-state.
The cruises are part of Singapore’s plans to revive its tourism industry that has been hit by the new coronavirus, which has infected more than 67.7 million people worldwide and killed 1,548,575.
Singapore, which has had just over 58,000 cases and 29 deaths, has reported fewer than a handful of local infections in recent weeks.
The onboard case is another setback for Singapore after a plan to open a non-quarantine air travel bubble with Hong Kong last month was postponed at the last minute.
Part of the precautions for the resumption of cruises in Singapore included pre-departure tests and that guests wear an electronic contact tracing device and social distance at all times.
South Korea’s New Coronavirus Infections Second Highest in New Wave
South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases as it battles a third wave of infection that threatens to overwhelm its medical system.
The daily count was the second highest since the start of the pandemic, according to the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA). New cases have been consistently around 600 over the last week.
Stronger social distancing rules went into effect yesterday, including unprecedented curfews at restaurants and most other businesses.
The government has also introduced a new testing method to meet growing demand and relaxed the rules to release some recovered patients faster to release hospital beds.
The government has signed agreements with four global drug manufacturers as part of a program to purchase Covid-19 vaccines for 44 million people.
South Korea’s total infections amount to 39,432, with 556 deaths.
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