ExclusiveCoronavirus: at least three cases among 4,000 passengers on China-Vietnam cruise, doctor says

Coronavirus confirmed in at least three passengers who sailed from Guangzhou to Vietnam, with two further cases suspected

Cruise ship containing more than 4,000 passengers sailed on January 19 for five nights, before ferrying new passengers to Hong Kong

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The 151,000-tonne World Dream, owned by a Hong Kong-based cruise liner, sits anchored at the international port in Manila on January 29, 2020. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

Published: 9:26pm, 3 Feb 2020Updated: 6:21pm, 14 Feb 2020

Three passengers that took the same cruise from China to Vietnam in January have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, with a further two suspected of being infected, the South China Morning Post has learned.

While one case was confirmed by local government officials in Guangdong province, across the border from Hong Kong, a doctor working at a major hospital in the provincial capital of Guangzhou confirmed an additional two confirmed cases and two suspected cases at the facility.

All four were aboard the same cruise ship, the World Dream, which sailed with more than 4,000 passengers from Nansha port in Guangzhou for Vietnam on January 19, before returning on January 24. The five-night “Impressions of Vietnam” cruise typically docks in tourist hotspots including Da Nang, Ha Long Bay and Nha Trang.

“There was a clear risk of cross-contagion on board the cruise ship,” said the doctor, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. But the doctor said she decided to disclose the information out of concern that thousands of passengers from the same cruise were at large, even though it has not been confirmed that there was an outbreak on board.

On Sunday, authorities in Zhaoqing city in northern Guangdong said that one resident who had taken the same cruise had been diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday. This is the only case the government has confirmed in connection with the cruise, according to government-run website, ycwb.com.

However, the local health authority urged 41 additional Zhaoqing residents who had taken the cruise to report to self-quarantine at home or contact the local health department should they develop a fever.

There were 108 Hubei residents on the ship, the authority said, including 28 from Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak that has already killed more people in China than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in 2003 and infected more than 17,000.

The doctor said that her hospital, one of 30 facilities designated for treating coronavirus in Guangdong, had reported the four cases to the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which informed the cruise operator via the Chinese customs regulator.