No Westerdam cruise ship passengers test positive for coronavirus after arriving in Cambodia
- At least 20 passengers were tested for coronavirus before the ship could dock in Sihanoukville
- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told local media that fear, not the virus was the ‘real disease’
None of the fluid samples taken from 20 people and transported by helicopter to the capital Phnom Penh for tests came back positive for coronavirus, Cambodia’s health ministry said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen told local media that fear was the “real disease”, not the virus. “Cambodia has no discrimination. We must contribute to humanitarian affairs in times of emergency,” he said. “If no one allows entry, Cambodia does.”
He said he would travel to Sihanoukville on Friday to personally welcome the passengers.
“We’ve had so many near moments we thought we were going home only to be turned away,” Angela Jones, an American tourist on board, said. “This morning, just seeing land was such a breathtaking moment. I thought: Is this real?”
Jones and her fellow passengers had spent almost two weeks at sea as the ship failed to find a country that would allow it to dock.
The timing of their final journeys home was still uncertain, however, as the ship faces health checks by authorities and passengers need to be taken to Phnom Penh to catch flights.