The emergence of a "cluster" is more than ever taken seriously. After the appearance of dozens of cases of the new coronavirus on board a ship of the national company Hurtigruten, Norway announced, Monday, August 3, restrictions on cruises along its coasts.

Ships carrying more than 100 people, including crew, will no longer be able to call and disembark their passengers in the country's ports for at least two weeks, explained the Minister of Health, Bent Høie, at a press conference. .

This measure, which does not concern ferries, affects half a dozen companies with an authorization to disembark.

10-day quarantine imposed on passengers

Earlier Monday, Hurtigruten decided to suspend all its so-called "expedition" cruises after the case was discovered aboard one of its ships. At least 41 people, including 36 mainly Filipino crew members, have tested positive for coronavirus after two cruises in July aboard the MS Roald Amundsen between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic .

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has requested that all passengers on the two cruises concerned observe a quarantine of ten days from their return ashore and undergo tests.

The vast majority of these are Norwegians, but the list also includes a few passengers of German, Danish, British, American, French, Estonian and Latvian nationality.

Criticized, the company recognizes "failures"

The appearance of this "cluster" in a country which has succeeded in curbing the pandemic has attracted criticism from the shipowner, accused of having restarted its operations prematurely and of having delayed, after the detection of the first case, in inform the 386 passengers who took part in the cruises concerned.

"We failed, we made mistakes," company general manager Daniel Skjeldam said at a press conference. "I offer my deepest apologies."

The company acknowledged "failures in several of [its] internal procedures", in particular concerning health precautions before boarding foreign personnel and the delay in informing passengers. The Norwegian police, for their part, announced the opening of an investigation.

With AFP

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