The last 255 guests and 747 crew members currently on the Westerdam are expected to remain on the cruise ship in the port of the Cambodian port city of Sihanoukville for a few more days, reports Holland America Line (HAL) shipping company Monday. There are still 29 Dutch on board.
Stay informed of all the news about the corona virus? follow us live blog.
Some Cambodian doctors were on board Monday to test the remaining people on the ship for COVID-19, the disease that causes the 2019-nCoV coronavirus. According to the HAL, it takes a few days for the test results to arrive. Until that time, nobody is allowed to leave the ship.
Guests at a hotel in the Cambodian city of Phnom Penh have also been tested. Of the first test group (406 people), no one was found to be infected. They have all been allowed to travel home.
On Monday 60 of the 91 Dutch were allowed to leave the ship. 26 Dutch people are currently still in hotels in Cambodia. According to the HAL, both the guests on the Westerdam and in the hotels are “very well looked after”. They also receive help with possibly obtaining new medicines.
American tested positive for virus
According to ministers Stef Blok (Foreign Affairs) and Bruno Bruins (Medical Care), there is “close contact” with both the Dutch in Cambodia and the HAL.
Published in a Monday evening House letter they write that several Dutch people have left home on their own. They have been asked to contact the local GGD when they are at home, because they may have had contact with the American woman, who tested positive for the virus after she left Westerdam and flown to Malaysia.
A total of 1,455 passengers and 802 crew members were aboard the Dutch cruise ship.
– .
