Thirty-six sailors confined to a boat have tested positive for the coronavirus, the city of Tromsø, Norway, where the ship is moored, announced on Saturday. The MS Roald Amundsen , which is owned by the Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten, houses 158 crew members in total.
The majority of the employees tested are of Filipino origin, while three others are French, Norwegian and German. The situation is fueling fears of a resurgence of the epidemic in Norway.
About sixty passengers placed in quarantine
This Friday, four crew members had already tested positive for the virus and hospitalized in the wake of the boat's arrival in Tromsø. The rest of the staff had been placed in quarantine. The ship also had nearly 180 passengers. None have reported symptoms related to the coronavirus, but around sixty of them have been in quarantine since they disembarked this Friday, according to the company.
Each passenger was nevertheless invited to isolate themselves and be tested. The same recommendations were made to more than 200 passengers who traveled from July 17 to 24 with the same crew after the a posteriori discovery of a case among the passengers. This Saturday, the Norwegian health authorities indicated to have "advised 69 municipalities to follow" these passengers.
The half-mast cruise sector
"This is already a major epidemic and we fear a further spread," an official at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health worried in a statement. The epidemic is considered to be under control since early April in the country. This Friday, the country had 9,208 confirmed cases of infections.
The disaster-stricken cruise sector had to give up a large part of its activity. Many liners were stranded in April and May for suspected or proven cases of Covid-19 contamination. Hurtigruten announced in March the suspension of almost all of its activities because of the pandemic.
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