PETALING JAYA: More tests are needed to confirm that an American passenger from a cruise ship docked in Cambodia has Covid-19 after she tested positive in Malaysia, the MS Westerdam’s operator said today.
Yesterday, the health ministry said the 83-year-old woman tested positive for the virus. It said the woman and her husband, who tested negative, are being treated at Sungai Buloh Hospital.
The woman was the first passenger from the cruise liner, operated by Carnival Corp unit Holland America Inc, to test positive for Covid-19.
“While the first results have been reported, they are preliminary at this point and we are awaiting secondary testing for confirmation,” Reuters quoted a statement by Holland America as saying.
Cambodian authorities also called on Malaysia to review its test results.
Holland America said 236 passengers and 747 crew remained aboard the vessel, which is docked in the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville.
It arrived on Thursday carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew. It had spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand.
The passengers were tested regularly on board and Cambodia also tested 20 once it docked, Reuters said.
None was found to have the new coronavirus that has killed more than 1,600 people, the vast majority in China.
The American woman flew to Malaysia on Friday from Cambodia along with 144 others from the ship, the health ministry said in a statement, adding that she was in stable condition.
It said the couple were the only ones among the 145 to show symptoms.
According to Reuters, the Cambodian government said its own tests had been done in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The (Cambodian) ministry of health requests the Malaysian authorities to review the results of the test,” it quoted a ministry statement as saying.
There are widespread fears that cruise ships around Asia may be spreading the virus. The biggest cluster outside China has been on the Diamond Princess, quarantined off Yokohama in Japan. Of about 3,700 passengers and crew on board, 285 people have tested positive and sent to hospital, Reuters said.
Vietnam turned back two ships on Friday.
’11 not allowed on board KLM flight to Amsterdam’
Bloomberg Mercury, quoting the Dutch foreign ministry, reported that a number of passengers, including two Dutch citizens, were not allowed to board an Amsterdam-bound KLM flight departing from Kuala Lumpur.
It said the travellers were among the more than 2,200 passengers and crew on the Westerdam.
The report said the tourists who were kept from boarding KLM flight 810 are still in Malaysia, along with another group of Dutch citizens suspected to have had contact with the American woman who tested positive.
It said Dutch RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment estimated that 11 people were not allowed on the plane.
A number of Dutch citizens who were aboard the Westerdam have already returned to the Netherlands, where they will be monitored daily by local health authorities.
Ninety-one Dutch citizens were aboard the cruise liner, Bloomberg Mercury quoted a spokesman for the RIVM as saying. However, he could not confirm the number who had already returned to the Netherlands. -FMT
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