A cruise ship stuck off Panama’s Pacific coast after four passengers died and more than 130 others developed influenza-like symptoms, including at least two with COVID-19, was on Saturday allowed to proceed through the Panama Canal, the Panamanian government said.
Holland America Line’s 238m MS Zaandam could continue its trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but the government underscored that no passengers or crew members would be allowed to set foot on Panamanian soil.
“Panama will guarantee biosecurity measures to protect the personnel who will participate in this maneuver and thus safeguard the health of Panamanians,” the government said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
The Zaandam, which was previously on a South American cruise, was denied access to the Panama Canal for sanitary reasons, leaving passengers and crew wondering when they would get home.
In the meantime, Holland America, which is owned by Carnival Corp, sent the Rotterdam sister ship to the area as the Panamanian Maritime Authority said that 401 asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to transfer from the Zaandam to the other ship.
There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board the Zaandam, as well as four doctors and four nurses, the cruise operator has said.
Throughout the day, passengers on the Zaandam have been boarding onto tenders pulled up on the port side of the ship for transfer to the Rotterdam, a passenger said.
“People have been transferring to the Rotterdam, about 60 an hour. This is likely to continue into tomorrow before we move,” said Ian Rae, a London-based Scotsman who is a passenger on the Zaandam along with his wife.
Rae said guests who are exhibiting symptoms are being asked to remain on the Zaandam, which has passengers from a host of nations including the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and New Zealand.
“It would seem that the transfer is based on a temperature test and answering no to four questions,” including whether passengers have suffered from cough, fatigue or fever in the past 10 days, Rae said.
He and his wife passed the temperature test, but answered that they, like many fellow passengers, have suffered from a cough.
“As a result, we shall not be transferring to Rotterdam,” he said.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing yesterday cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth, a blanket measure that a source close to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said would further shorten her detention. Aung San Suu Kyi has been sequestered since a 2021 military coup, but the senior member of her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party said that while her term had been reduced, her remaining sentence is still unclear. “We also don’t know exactly how many years she has left,” the source told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government
RSS