Singapore Tests Passengers for Coronavirus From Cruise Ship

(Bloomberg) --

Singapore health-care officials conducted coronavirus screenings on passengers from the Costa Fortuna cruise ship that was prevented from docking in Thailand and Malaysia, the city-state’s government agencies said in a joint statement.

The cruise ship, which made a scheduled return call to Singapore on Tuesday, had declared that none of the passengers and its crew have exhibited symptoms of respiratory illness. The penalty for false declaration on symptoms includes as long as six months’ imprisonment, the agencies said. The cruise had left Singapore on March 3.

Cruise Ship Rejected by Thailand, Malaysia, to Dock in Singapore

Health workers subjected the disembarking passengers to thermal and visual screenings with most of travelers sent straight to their onward flights or hotels in Singapore. Almost all of the foreign passengers will leave the country within the next two days, according to the statement.

Costa Fortuna passengers who recently traveled to regions most affected by the coronavirus outbreak were subject to more enhanced screening and have been certified fit to travel by Singapore doctors. These travelers will remain on board the ship and will be sent straight to the airport.

The cruise set off from Singapore and was supposed to return there, so the government doesn’t think it’s right to stop it from docking, Singapore’s Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said at a press briefing on Tuesday evening. The government needs to look at the overall risks and manage them when it comes to stopping cruise services, he said. As the situation evolves, tighter measures may be imposed, he said.

Over the past two weeks, Singapore has handled more than 10 scheduled calls by cruise ships and disembarked more than 5,000 passengers, according to the government agencies.

Singapore has taken tougher containment action in recent weeks, which has seen it report a slower virus case growth rate. This compares with other countries like Japan which has come under criticism for being lax in its quarantine of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where infections surged during the time it was docked in Yokohama.

To contact the reporters on this story: Melissa Cheok in Singapore at mcheok2@bloomberg.net;Faris Mokhtar in Singapore at fmokhtar1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Tom Redmond

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