Hundreds of ex-passengers of the cruise ship MS Westerdam are now wanted after an American present on board tested positive for the virus in Malaysia. The ship docked in Cambodia last week after being refused by several ports in the region due to fears surrounding the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Read also: Coronavirus: delivery in sight for Westerdam passengers
Holland America Line, a subsidiary of cruise ship Carnival and owner of MS Westerdam, said in a statement that it is working with authorities in several countries to locate the people concerned.
The cruise line said that none of the other 1454 passengers and 802 crew members reported symptoms.
This episode, which reinforces fears of the international spread of the virus, could call into question the procedures for monitoring and quarantine of people likely to have been exposed to this virus, since this 83-year-old woman had passed the presumed period 14 day incubation. A first Covid-19 screening test carried out on this woman, who arrived Friday by plane in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur from the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, was positive. This result was confirmed by a new analysis carried out on Saturday.
According to Malaysian authorities, of the 145 former MS Westerdam passengers who arrived in Malaysia, only this woman is infected with Covid-19, the analyzes carried out on her husband's having been negative on two occasions. But 137 asymptomatic passengers had already left Kuala Lumpur at the time of the announcement of the confirmation of the results of the analyzes of the American couple, the six other ex-passengers of MS Westerdam then being awaiting a connection.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Waz Azizah Wan Ismail, who released the figures on Sunday, said no other passenger would be allowed to leave the country "to take into account the fact that all of these passengers were in contact with a contaminated person ". Dozens of other MS Westerdam ex-passengers stopped in Thailand before continuing their journey, Thai officials said.
Read also: Coronavirus: China believes that its efforts are starting to bear fruit
MS Westerdam landed last Thursday in Cambodia after two weeks of wandering at sea. It was denied access to Thai, Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino ports and on the American island of Guam for fear that some of the nearly 1,500 passengers or 800 crew members on board were not infected with the coronavirus despite all negative screening tests. The new screening tests and medical examinations carried out after the disembarkation of the passengers also proved negative, the Cambodian authorities had authorized them to travel.
Read also: Coronavirus: China (too?) Optimistic