Advertisement
World on alert for coronavirus spread as stranded passengers fly home to 40 countries from two stricken cruise ships
- 600 American passengers on the MS Westerdam, one of whom was tested positive for the coronavirus, are now flying home after getting off the cruise ship
- About 233 guests and 747 crew remain on the ship in Sihanoukville, out of 2,257 who were on the voyage
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
More than 3,000 travellers on two coronavirus-stricken Carnival cruise ships are returning home, fanning out to more than 40 countries and fuelling fears of further contagion from the deadly virus.
The US on Monday began evacuating its citizens from the Diamond Princess off Yokohama, Japan, where 70 new cases of the virus were confirmed over the weekend.
Canada, Hong Kong and other countries also plan similar evacuations of hundreds. On Saturday, an 83-year-old American woman tested positive in Malaysia, a day after she and more than 2,200 others were cleared to leave the cruise ship Westerdam in Cambodia. The ship arrived there after being turned away by five other ports.
Advertisement
“This woman was on the boat and was infected for a few days – she could have potentially exposed other people on the boat who have now gone home,” said Stanley Deresinski, a Stanford University professor and infectious disease specialist at the university hospital.
“There’s a possibility that anyone who is infected and asymptomatic could start a chain of infection wherever they return to.”
The startling number of cases on the Diamond Princess, which accounts for the biggest cluster of coronavirus infections outside China, and the newly detected case from the Westerdam raise questions about the effectiveness of containing the virus on cruise ships.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x