Cruise firm seeks new COVID-19 test for American passenger from ship in Cambodia
16 February, 2020
More tests are had a need to concur that an American passenger from a cruise ship docked in Cambodia has the new coronavirus after she tested positive in Malaysia, the MS Westerdam's operator said on Sunday (Feb 16).
The 83-year-old woman was the first passenger from the MS Westerdam, operated by Carnival Corp unit Holland America Inc, to check positive for the virus.
"While the first results have been reported, they are preliminary at this stage and we are awaiting secondary testing for confirmation," Holland America said in a statement.
Cambodian authorities called on Malaysia to examine its test results.
Holland America said 236 passengers and 747 crew remained aboard the vessel, which is docked in the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville.
It arrived on Thursday carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew. It had spent fourteen days at sea after being turned away by Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand.
The passengers were tested regularly up to speed and Cambodia also tested 20 once it docked. None was found to really have the new coronavirus which has killed a lot more than 1,500 people, a large proportion in China.
The American woman flew to Malaysia on Friday from Cambodia along with 144 others from the ship, the Malaysian health ministry said in a statement, adding that she was in stable condition.
The girl husband had demonstrated symptoms but tested negative, it said. The couple were the only kinds among the 145 showing symptoms, the ministry said.
Cambodia's government said its own tests have been done in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the united states Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The Ministry of Health requests the Malaysian authorities to review the results of the test," Cambodia's Ministry of Health said in statement.
There are widespread fears that cruise lines around Asia may be spreading the virus. The biggest cluster outside China has been on the Diamond Princess, quarantined off Japan's Yokohama. Out of about 3,700 passengers and crew up to speed, 285 persons have tested positive and been delivered to hospital.
Vietnam turned back two ships on Friday.
The American woman's case brings the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Malaysia to 22.
An 80-year-old Chinese tourist infected with the coronavirus has died in France, the first fatality in Europe and the fourth outside mainland China.
A lot of the deaths so far have been around in the central Chinese province of Hubei, where in fact the virus is thought to have originated at a wildlife market.
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