At least 40 passengers and crew, including 32 Filipinos, tested positive for COVID-19 on a luxury cruise ship in Norway.
Public health officials in Norway said Sunday authorities are still tracing the number of passengers from two recent Arctic voyages.
MS Roald Amundsen arrived Friday at the port of Tromsoe were in four of its crew members were hospitalized and later tested positive for COVID-10. Further tests revealed 32 of the 158 staff also acquired the respiratory illness.
While those who got infected were quarantined inside the ship, its 178 passengers who arrived on Friday were allowed to disembark before anyone had been tested, resulting in a more difficult contact tracing to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) and the Tromsoe municipality said four of the combined 387 passengers traveling on the ship on two separate cruises since July 17 had been infected with the new coronavirus.
“We expect that more infections will be found in connection to this outbreak,” said Line Vold, a senior FHI executive, adding that the passengers have been advised to undergo self-quarantine.