Cruise ship stuck at sea given safe harbour by Cambodia
CAMBODIA yesterday offered safe harbour to a cruise ship that had been stuck at sea with more than 2,000 people on board because of fears over coronavirus.
The MS Westerdam, which has 1,455 passengers and 802 crew, none of whom are thought to be sick, had been turned away from Guam, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines, prompting fears that it could run out of food as it searched for a port.
It was due to dock at the Cambodian sea port of Sihanoukville at 7am today, said operator Holland America Line.
“We will immediately begin making our way to Sihanoukville in Cambodia,” Westerdam captain Vincent Smit told passengers.
“There will be a brief health inspection onboard by the Cambodian authorities which will take place at anchor just before we arrive.”
The failure of so many countries to let the ship dock was criticised by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), who told a packed press briefing in Geneva yesterday that disease outbreaks “bring out the best and worst in people”. Praising the actions of the Cambodian authorities, Dr Tedros said: “Stigma turns people against each other… this is a time for solidarity not stigma. We need to come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders.”
His comments came after a Japanese health official contracted coronavirus from his work on another cruise ship, the Diamond Princess in Yokohama, in the first instance of the virus infecting a local rather than a guest.
Japanese health officials announced yesterday that 40 more cases were confirmed onboard the ship overnight, affecting 174 out of 3,500 passengers and crew. Two more British passengers were among the new cases, bringing the total number of Britons infected to three. The two most recently infected
Britons have not been named. The first, from who was named as Alan Steele, was transferred to a hospital in Tokyo on Feb 7.
“We are in contact with the Japanese authorities and continue to provide assistance to the British nationals affected and their families,” said an official with the British embassy in Tokyo.
The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China, has now infected about 45,200 people worldwide, killing 1,116. While the numbers continue to increase, China reported yesterday its lowest number of new cases since late January. It also said it would offer tax breaks and other incentives to get the economy moving again.
State-owned enterprises were told to cut rents and banks ordered to keep interest rates low. The two most powerful political bodies in China – the Standing Committee of the Communist Party Politburo and the government’s cabinet of ministers – issued similar orders.
China has fired two senior health officials in Hubei province. Hundreds of other local officials have also been penalised, in a move that puts the blame for a botched initial response on the government’s lower ranks, rather than senior representatives.