Singapore ‘cruise to nowhere’ ends after passenger tests positive for Covid-19

A passenger on board a post-pandemic test voyage ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ from Singapore has tested positive for Covid-19, says Royal Caribbean.

Singapore has been trialling the trips which are open only to the city-state’s residents, make no stops and sail in waters close by. But last Wednesday morning, the captain of the Quantum of the Seas informed the 2,000 passengers that the ship was to return to dock a day early and that they should stay in their rooms, The Straits Times reports.

The captain later confirmed that a passenger had tested positive, according to The Guardian.

But, according to USA Today, the passenger later tested negative for Covid-19.

“In the last 24 hours, one guest aboard Quantum of the Seas tested positive for coronavirus after checking in with our medical team,” Lyan Sierra-Caro, spokesperson for Royal Caribbean, told USA Today.

After the initial positive test, the passenger was taken to a medical facility upon arrival in Singapore Wednesday for further testing and care, Sierra-Caro said.

There, additional tests indicated that the first could have been a false positive.

The “original sample has since been re-tested at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), and has come back negative for Covid-19 infection,” Singapore’s Ministry of Health said in a statement. “A second fresh sample tested by NPHL has also come back negative. NPHL will conduct another test tomorrow to confirm his Covid-19 status.”

Every passenger and crew member who had been in close contact was traced ‘immediately’, isolated and tested, Sierra-Caro said.

Ultimately, all passengers and crew members were tested and their results came back negative. Those in contact with the passenger were given PCR tests while those who were not were given rapid antigen tests.

“The ship returned to port today in accordance with government protocols,” Sierra-Caro said.

The Quantum of the Seas has a hospital equipped with ventilators. It was carrying half its capacity, fresh air is pumped throughout the ship via air-conditioning systems, and any non-Singapore resident crew had to quarantine for 14 days in their home country and a further 14 days in Singapore before boarding.

In a statement following the positive diagnosis, Royal Caribbean said: “We identified and isolated all guests and crew who had close contact with this guest, and each of those individuals have subsequently tested negative for the virus.”

According to Singaporean daily newspaper The Straits Times, there were 1,680 guests and 1,448 crew members on board.

The passenger who tested positive for Covid-19 was an 83-year-old Singaporean who first reported to the ship’s medical centre with diarrhoea and underwent a coronavirus test as part of on-board protocols.

A raft of safety measures was introduced for passengers on the special cruises to nowhere, including Covid-19 tests before boarding and after disembarking.

The guest who tested positive will be refunded the full amount of the cruise, according to The Straits Times. Everyone else will be refunded the value of one day on the cruise.