Thousands from cruise liner in Hong Kong freed after novel coronavirus tests
10 February, 2020
Thousands of men and women stranded aboard a cruise ship in Hong Kong for five days were permitted to disembark on Sunday (Feb 9) following its 1,800 crew tested negative for the deadly new coronavirus.
Health authorities in the semi-autonomous Asian financial hub said the crew and a similar number of passengers had been released from a quarantine imposed because of fears some staff could have contracted the deadly virus on a previous voyage and passed it on.
The World Dream carried three Chinese passengers to Vietnam between Jan 19 and 24 who were later found to be infected with the SARS-like coronavirus, which has killed a lot more than 800 people in China because it emerged in December.
unded the ship on its arrival in Hong Kong Wednesday while tests were carried out on the crew, but said the passengers do not need to undergo examination because they had no connection with the three sick holidaymakers on the January trip.
First found in the city of Wuhan in central China last December, the virus has infected more than 36,000 people on the Chinese mainland and at least 26 in Hong Kong.
The passengers and crew isolated on the vessel have been looking to stay aboard until Tuesday after Hong Kong authorities said testing would take at least four days.
But chief port health officer Leung Yiu-hong said on Sunday "all tests have results this afternoon and so are all negative".
He added that passenger testing was deemed unnecessary because these were at relatively low risk. All 3,600 onboard will not be required to self-quarantine after leaving.
As he left the ship, passenger Rocky Chan said quarantine conditions have been "okay", though his time on board had caused him a few problems.
"My job was somewhat damaged because of the time I had to invest here," he said, but added that a letter he received from the Department of Health should erase any issues.
Vice-president of marketing at Dream Cruises, Phoebe Yip Ching-man, said the business arranged for a large number of coaches to take passengers in to the city, while free hotel rooms were booked for the a lot more than 100 foreign passport holders up to speed who needed them.
Hong Kong on Saturday commenced enforcing a 14-day quarantine period on all people arriving from mainland China in a brand new bid to curb the spread of the virus.
The city's health minister Sunday morning said 468 persons had up to now been ordered to remain at home, in resort rooms or at a government quarantine camp because the policy took effect.
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