After a passenger is suspected of being infected, a “nowhere to sail” ship of Genting Cruise Line has returned to Singapore Coronavirus disease Nearly 3,000 passengers and crew on board were confined in their cabins.
The Singapore Tourism Board stated that a 40-year-old passenger on the ship tested positive for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and was sent to the hospital for further testing after docking the ship early on Wednesday.
The committee said in a statement: “The passenger was identified as a close contact of the confirmed case on land and was immediately isolated as part of the on-board health agreement.”
The global cruise industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and some of the earliest large-scale outbreaks occurred on cruise ships in Asian waters.
Singapore, which has relatively few domestic COVID-19 cases, launched a “round trip” route for luxury liners in November, and there was no port of call during the voyage for several days.
Dream Cruises, a subsidiary of Genting Cruises, stated that there were 1,646 passengers and 1,249 crew members on the World Dream of Dreams Cruises, all of whom were required to stay in the cabin and provide non-contact meals.
Before setting sail on Sunday for a three-night voyage, guests suspected of being infected with COVID-19 tested negative in a mandatory rapid antigen test before departure.
The Tourism Bureau stated that the three travel companions of the passenger tested negative and were isolated while further tracing contacts.
Xingmeng said that only basic service personnel equipped with personal protective equipment are allowed to carry out limited activities on board.
Passengers said that they found a suspected case in the announcement at around 1:00 in the morning
“We are prepared for this possibility,” passenger Suryana Ali said at an online media conference organized by the operator.
A Reuters witness on the Singapore waterfront said that several guests on the docked boat could be seen chatting with each other on their private balcony.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, no-where cruises limited to Singapore residents have become popular during the pandemic, and other travel opportunities are very limited.
When the bad news came, Tan Choon Seng, 51, was on a third cruise this year with some friends, but at least the vacation was almost over, he said.
“We are grateful that this happened at 1 am, so we completed all the activities,” Tan said.
Tan said he was worried about isolation but would take the cruise ship again.
Passengers said they were waiting to be told when they could disembark.
World Dream’s next voyage, the two-night voyage departing on Wednesday, has been cancelled.
In December last year, passengers on the Royal Caribbean Sea Quantum cruise ship were detained in the cabin of Singapore for more than 16 hours after they found suspected COVID-19 cases on board.
But it turned out that this was a false alarm.
(Reporting by Chen Lin and Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; writing by Ed Davies; editing by Robert Birsel and Richard Pullin)
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