At least forty-five people aboard Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen tested positive for COVID-19.
Thirty-six team members tested positive for COVID-19, said hurtigruten spokesman Oystein Knoph. According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, nine passengers also tested positive for COVID-19, as it became transparent that there was an outbreak on board. The nine passengers are from six counties in Norway. Thirty-three of the 36 team members who tested positive are Filipinos and the other three are Norwegian, German and French citizens.
Passengers on two separate shipment trips had already disembarked on July 24 and Friday to begin their return adventure before the cruise line contacted passengers about the first cases of COVID-19.
Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam said the cruise line had failed and made mistakes on a Monday. They think the line was well prepared in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, although an initial review of what happened at MS Roald Amundsen shows deviations from its established procedures.
Most of the global cruise industry remains in hold as the coronavirus continues to sweep the world, however, some cruise lines have begun to resume operations in foreign waters. And as ships sail with new precautions, disorders with the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, are already on the rise.
The cruise line announced Monday that it would suspend all shipping cruises that its coastal operations in Norway were unaffected.
Skjeldam said in a statement that the resolution was the only selection to blame until the company can be sure to be able to make its cruises while meeting all government criteria and even the strictest needs Hurtigruten has imposed.
Skjeldam added: “For our guests, our workers and everyone who loves Hurtigruten, I need to do it.” The company will take a full external review of what happened and review the procedures in Hurtigruten.
It is known how the MS Roald Amundsen epidemic began, and passengers arrived from all over the world.
The ship’s 158 team members were tested for COVID-19, up to the cruise line. Four team members are hospitalized at Northern Norwegian University Hospital, 3 are recovering and are expected to leave the hospital soon.
Since the cruise line acts as a local ferry, traveling from port to port along Norway’s west coast, some passengers have disembarked along the direction and possibly spread the virus to local communities. A total of 69 Norwegian municipalities may also have been affected, the Norwegian ntB news firm reported on Monday.
Two new ground instances were reported, according to the city of Trondheim, claiming that they were both passengers of the ship. Trondheim is halfway to Tromsa, north of the Arctic Circle, where the empty vessel is moored.
Previously: As the cruise resumes in some parts of the world, several cruise ships are affected through new COVID-19 instances
The Hurtigruten cruise line was one of the first companies to resume sailing during the pandemic, starting cruises to Norway out of northern Germany in June with a single ship, then adding cruises in July to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard that is part of the Scandinavian country.
The leading industry organization, Cruise Lines International Association, will eventually release a mandatory policy on how to handle COVID-19 prevention and outbreaks on board ships. But right now, its cruise line members are deploying company-specific protocols based on advice of governments, health authorities and experts.
“Recovery is incredibly limited so far, and ongoing crossings will have to meet the needs and approval situations of national authorities,” Bari Golin-Blaugrund, senior director of strategic communications, told USA TODAY.
After a 22-year-old American woman tested positive for the coronavirus aboard a cruise ship in Tahiti, all other passengers and crew on board the MS Paul Gauguin have tested negative and some have begun to disembark to enter a seven-day quarantine, the cruise line announced Tuesday.
The inflamed, asymptomatic passenger was confined to a special cabin before disembarking with her mother in a hotel to stay off the coast, according to a cruise line Paul Gauguin shared with USA TODAY through spokeswoman Lauren Wintemberg.
Following the discovery of the infection, the 340 passengers and equipment aboard the flagship of the cruise company MS Paul Gauguin were evaluated and confined to their cabins pending results.
The shipment returned Sunday morning to the departure port of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti, he said, where they began seven days of quarantine and before undergoing further testing.
All foreign passengers had to pass two tests before boarding the Gauguin, according to the cruise line. The first was made within 3 days of a foreign flight and a time administered 4 days after arrival in French Polynesia.
Crew members can quarantine on board for up to a week. All passengers and equipment on board the shipment will be re-evaluated within the week, according to team members, said on a cruise line shared with USA TODAY through spokeswoman Lauren Wintemberg.
French Polynesia reopened last month to ask them to take a check before access and return 4 days after their arrival.
The Hurtigruten expedition cruiser, MS Fridtjof Nansen, announced Monday that 4 team members had been remote in the shipment after reporting bloodless symptoms. All team members tested negative for COVID-19.
The entire team won coronavirus tests, the first of which will be delivered on the ground on Tuesday for research in Alesund, Norway, press officer Oystein Knoph said on a cruise line. All customers are invited and encouraged to take the test and have been asked to remain in their cabins for the time being, Knoph added.
The two-week round-trip cruise from Hamburg takes position along the Norwegian coast and lately arrives in Alesund. It has 171 passengers and 162 team members on board.
The MS Spitsbergen, another expedition cruiser sent in Hurtigruten’s fleet, has no suspected cases of coronavirus, but plans to check every user on board, Knoph said in the statement.
The shipment is expected to dock on Thursday in Tromsa, Norway, where all passengers and equipment will remain on board until negative results are taken. Knoph tested that all mandatory precautions should be taken despite the lack of explanation as to why there were cases of viruses in the shipment.
The ship programmed for a verification device on Monday, but fog prevented the aircraft with the aircraft from landing.
Sixty-4 visitors and 20 team members are on board the ship. Of the passengers, the maximum are Norwegian and the rest are from other European countries. Forty-six team members are Filipino citizens, 20 are Norwegian and 4 European.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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