He added that the testing, which was previously expected to take four days, was completed within one day after mobilising extra manpower to collect samples and handle the laboratory work.

Leung also said officials would continue to trace passengers who possibly had contact with the infectious disease on a previous trip and had left the vessel last month.

Over the four days the 1,800 passengers were forced into quarantine, the Home Affairs Department received 130 requests via its hotline for specific drugs and catering services, according to Kowloon City district officer Leung Yiu-hong.

China orders more medical supplies as coronavirus deaths equal Sars total

Passengers placed under quarantine were free to move about the ship but were not allowed to get off since Wednesday. A woman on board reported ill on Sunday after midnight and was taken to United Christian Hospital by ambulance.

Since early afternoon, the Department of Health had broadcast the test results to some 3,600 people on board the ship and told passengers they could leave the vessel from 5.30pm and would not need to be placed under quarantine for 14 days.

Project manager Michelle, 27, who had been uncertain whether she could catch her flight back to Britain on Wednesday, was relieved after learning the results.

“[I] didn’t expect the government to be able to process all the lab tests so quickly,” she said.

Busker Rex Lui, 56, echoed the sentiment: “Returning home is the best.”

Lui said he did not expect to leave so soon as he had foreseen a 14-day stay on the ship for quarantine. “It’s a bit surprising,” he said.

But a 66-year-old passenger named Chan accused the government to being slow in making arrangements.

At least eight Hong Kong patients test positive for coronavirus

“They have to look at public sentiment [before making a decision],” he said. “It’s like handling a bomb only after the bomb has exploded.”

The cruise operator, Dream Cruises, apologised in a statement for the delay in disembarkation from the ship in the afternoon and thanked the passengers and crew for their patience and understanding.

Phoebe Yip Ching-man, vice-president of the operator’s marketing department, said they provided complimentary hotel accommodation to about 100 overseas passengers and arranged 50 shuttle buses to send travellers to metro stations and bus terminals.

She added that the World Dream would continue to dock in Hong Kong but its operations would be suspended immediately until further notice, considering the global epidemic outbreak.

The World Dream left Hong Kong for Taiwan on February 2 carrying more than 1,800 passengers and about the same number of crew members.

It returned to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Wednesday after being turned away by Taiwanese authorities following the discovery that it had carried passengers infected with the virus during an earlier trip between Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Some passengers who were symptomatic had tested negative, and health officials said there was no need to test all guests because they had no contact with the eight who were infected on the earlier trip.