Hurtigruten’s cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen is seen in the sea near Ulsteinvik, Norway July 1, 2019. Hurtigruten/Handout via Reuters A
By Terje Solsvik OSLO, July 31 (Reuters) – Four crew members on a Norwegian cruise vessel were diagnosed with COVID-19 after it arrived at the Arctic port of Tromsoe early on Friday, said the University Hospital of North Norway where they are being treated.
All 160 crew members on the Roald Amundsen have been quarantined on the ship, while the 177 passengers – all of whom have already disembarked – are being contacted by telephone and are being told to self-isolate, operator Hurtigruten said.
“By the time we were notified, the passengers had left the ship,” Tromsoe municipality chief doctor Kathrine Kristoffersen told a news conference. “All passengers will, for the time being, be asked to quarantine.”
The four patients were all foreign citizens, the hospital said, while declining to elaborate on their state of health or nationality.
During the cruise, passengers were frequently instructed to socially distance in order to reduce the risk of disease, said one passenger, Line Miriam Haugan, a former junior minister at Norway’s Ministry of Health.
“The crew observed us washing our hands and also took our temperatures,” Haugan told Reuters.
“When I learned of the outbreak, I immediately went for a test and will quarantine at least until I get the result,” she added.
The ship’s operator and owner, Hurtigruten, which in March suspended most operations due to the pandemic, announced on July 7 it would gradually return all but two of its 16 vessels to service by the end of September, albeit with reduced capacity.
The Roald Amundsen had been on a week-long journey from Tromsoe to the Svalbard archipelago, half-way between Europe and the North Pole, and is scheduled to sail around the British Isles in September, docking at ports in England and Scotland.
In the early phase of the pandemic, thousands of passengers were stranded on cruise vessels in the waters of Asia, the United States and elsewhere, leading operators to cancel journeys and triggering mass layoffs by the industry. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Gareth Jones)
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) released its annual State of the Cruise Industry report, revealing robust growth in the sector still recovering from pandemic impacts. In 2023, the passenger...
VIENNA (Reuters) – Eleven people were injured when a Bulgarian cruise ship crashed into a concrete wall in a sluice on the River Danube in the northern Austrian town of Aschach an der Donau overnight,...
The world’s largest cruise company Carnival Corporation has announced record revenue and all-time high bookings in the first quarter of 2024. Revenues for the three months ending in February hit...
March 27, 2024
Total Views: 468
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.