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A man sits by the balcony of the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Quantum of the Seas docked at the Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore on Nov.6, 2020.
Facebook Facebook logo Sign in to Facebook to connect with Roslan Rahman AFP | fake images
SINGAPORE – A passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the ship to return to port early.
The Quantum of the Seas cruise ship He sailed from Singapore on a “cruise to nowhere,” a concept being tested in the city-state that allows cruise ships to make round-trip trips to Singapore with no intermediate port of call.
The program is available only to Singapore residents and the ships are limited to carrying only 50% of their total passenger capacity.
“A guest aboard the Quantum of the Seas tested positive for coronavirus after checking in with our medical team,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement. The hosts and crew who came into close contact with the infected passenger have been identified and isolated; all have tested negative so far, the cruise operator said.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said the 83-year-old passenger tested positive for Covid-19 after reporting to the ship’s medical center with diarrhea and underwent a mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test according to the protocol. The passenger had tested negative for the disease before boarding.
PCR tests have been widely used to detect cases, as they are accurate in their diagnosis, but the results take hours to arrive.
Royal Caribbean told CNBC that the ship has already returned to Singapore and is currently docked at the Marina Bay Cruise Center. But the company did not respond to CNBC’s question about how many passengers were on board and whether the incident will affect future sailing plans.
“As part of the protocols for a positive test during a cruise, the passenger was immediately isolated and their initial close contacts were identified and isolated,” said Annie Chang, director of cruise ships for the Singapore Tourism Board, in a statement.
“These close contacts have since tested negative after PCR testing and the contacts are being followed up. All leisure activities on board also ceased immediately and passengers were asked to remain in their cabins,” he said.
The remaining passengers and crew will remain on board in their rooms until the contact tracing is complete, Chang added. “Everyone will undergo mandatory tests (Covid-19) before leaving the terminal, according to the usual post-arrival protocols.”
Quantum of the Seas can carry up to 4,905 passengers and around 1,500 crew members at full capacity. Royal Caribbean says its ships have onboard medical centers that can conduct on-site tests to detect Covid-19, isolate positive cases and provide critical care when needed.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the travel and tourism sectors this year, including the cruise industry.
Singapore’s “cruise to nowhere” program is an attempt to boost travel demand amid the pandemic. To participate, cruises must obtain a mandatory safety certification and will undergo an audit before they are allowed to start sailing.
At the moment, Royal Caribbean and Genting Cruise Lines are sailing from Singapore under this program.
Daily infections in the city-state have mostly been kept under control and Singapore has reported no new local transmissions since December 5. There have been 58,285 Covid-19 cases and 29 deaths in the country so far.
The Ministry of Health directed CNBC to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for inquiries.
