More than 3,000 travelers on two COVID-19 stricken Carnival Corp cruise ships are returning home, fanning out to more than 40 countries and fueling fears of further contagion from the virus.
Just a day after disembarking the cruise ship Westerdam in Cambodia, an 83-year-old American woman tested positive for the virus in Malaysia, raising doubts about the more than 2,200 others who are already making their way home or set to get off the ship.
The Westerdam had earlier been turned away by five other ports on concern it harbored the virus.
“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 woman was cleared to travel from Cambodia after filling out a health questionnaire and undergoing temperature checks.
After she and 144 other Westerdam passengers arrived in Malaysia to transit, she had a fever, was coughing and had difficulty breathing. Two tests confirmed the diagnosis.
Her 85-year-old husband tested negative as did six other passengers who were quarantined.
More than 600 Americans on the Westerdam are making their way home, the biggest group by nationality. About 233 guests and 747 crew remain on the ship in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, out of 2,257 who were on the voyage, according to a statement by Holland America Line, owned by Miami-based cruising giant Carnival.
The Westerdam passengers join those of the Diamond Princess off Yokohama, Japan, where the US yesterday evacuated more than 300 citizens on two charter flights.
Despite having been deemed fit to fly, 14 of those evacuated tested positive for the virus and were isolated from other passengers on the flights.
Taiwan, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and other countries also plan similar evacuations.
A further 99 infections were yesterday found on board the Diamond Princess, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said, bringing the total number of infections to 454, more than a quarter of the 1,723 tested.
A Russian woman aboard the quarantined ship has become the first Russian citizen to be diagnosed with COVID-19, Moscow said yesterday.
The woman is to be transferred to a hospital and receive treatment, the Russian embassy in Japan said in a Facebook post.
Globally, the virus has infected more than 71,000 people, killing 1,770 patients in mainland China and five others elsewhere.
Beijing yesterday said it might postpone its annual congress scheduled to start on March 5, as the military dispatched hundreds more medical workers and extra supplies to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Standing Committee for the National People’s Congress said it would meet on Monday next week to further deliberate on a postponement.
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