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An 83-year-old passenger who initially tested positive for the coronavirus on a “cruise to nowhere” from Singapore this week, forcing thousands of passengers and crew members to return to port a day earlier, did not have the virus after. of everything, officials. he said Thursday.
The passenger, who had diarrhea aboard the Quantum of the Seas ship and had undergone a mandatory test for Covid-19, has since tested negative on several occasions, the Singapore Ministry of Health said in a statement.
“The sample taken from the individual this morning was negative for the virus,” authorities said Thursday. It was the third negative test after two on Wednesday also came back negative.
Quarantine orders for close contacts of the man and other passengers aboard the ship were later rescinded, the ministry said.
The Singapore Tourism Board said contact tracing began immediately after the man’s positive test and all leisure activities on board were canceled. The ship’s captain also ordered the guests to remain in their cabins during the investigation.
Royal Caribbean-owned Quantum of the Seas returned to the Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore at 8 a.m. Wednesday. All remaining passengers and crew members were required to undergo mandatory tests upon disembarking, the tourism board said.
The board also asked that passengers monitor their health for 14 days and undergo a swab test at a designated government facility at the end of the monitoring period.
When the cruise ship left the city-state on Monday, all 1,680 passengers and 1,148 crew members had tested negative for Covid-19, according to the tourism board.
The incident underscores the uncertainties facing the global tourism industry, hit by the pandemic, as it struggles to restart. The cruise ship is one of two operating out of Singapore this month, and at the same time, it sets out a long list of safety precautions to reassure passengers.
