Singapore Ship Ends 'Cruise To Nowhere' After Passenger Was Suspected To Have COVID-19
Passengers were told to stay in their cabins after their trip was cut short by a day.
By Lee Yong Jin — 10 Dec 2020, 03:30 PM — Updated about 4 years ago
Editor's Note: The story has been updated with confirmation that the patient had a false positive COVID-19 result.
A Singapore cruise ship was forced to turn back after an elderly passenger on-board tested false positive for COVID-19 on 9 December
Reuters reported that passengers aboard the Quantum of the Seas were confined to their cabins for more than 16 hours before contact tracing was completed.
All passengers went through mandatory COVID-19 testing before they were allowed to leave the terminal.
The 83-year-old man initially tested positive for COVID-19 when he reported to the ship that he had diarrhoea
He was later tested negative for two subsequent retests.
On 10 December, the National Public Health Laboratory conducted a final test with a fresh sample, which came back negative.
Singapore's Ministry of Health has since confirmed in a press statement that the man was not infected with the virus.
They have also revoked orders to place close contacts of the man under quarantine.
All 1,680 guests aboard the cruise ship were already screened for the virus before the cruise began on Monday, 7 December
The ship disembarked all passengers at 7.30pm on 9 December.
"I am terribly sorry that the cruise ended a day early and ended this way," said the captain in an announcement heard by Reuters.
"The crew will rest overnight and take polymerase chain reaction tests in the morning."
The 'cruise-to-nowhere' is organised by Royal Caribbean and is open to Singapore residents only
The cruises take place in Singaporean waters where the ships depart and arrive at the same port.
According to The Straits Times, tickets for the trips sold well as they were in rising demand.
