600 passengers onboard Costa Fortuna disembark in Singapore, all tested negative for coronavirus
All of the passengers on board the Costa Fortuna cruise ship are found well as they disembarked in three hours in Singapore. As per the statement released by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), and Singapore Tourism Board (STB), those passengers who have been to areas with several cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 14 days have also been separately screened by doctors and are all certified fit to travel.
Besides, those passengers to have recent travel history to those areas greatly affected by the outbreak are still staying onboard the cruise ship but later on, they will be taken directly to the airport for their scheduled flights. The governing bodies, MOH, MPA, and STB said that Costa Fortuna was able to submit its maritime declaration of health at around 6 am wherein it declared that none of its passengers and even crew members were seen any symptoms related to the new illness. If found lying, the penalty for such failed declaration may include up to 6 months’ in jail.
Even the authorities reiterated that all passengers and its crew members had been checked by the ship’s doctor and were even subjected to further thermal and visual screenings conducted by MOH’s licensed healthcare personnel. Those passengers are either bussed directly to their respective hotels or the airport for their onward flights. In the next two days, the majority of the foreign passengers will depart Singapore. Regarding the passengers who had a recent travel history in northern Italy, the agencies noted that those passengers were able to enter Singapore and boarded the Costa Fortuna cruise ship before the implementation of the so-called travel ban or the advisory released on March 4, 2020. However, the number of passengers onboard the cruise ship coming from the affected areas were not specified.
The Costa Fortuna cruise ship was able to dock at the Marina Bay Cruise Center at around 7:30 am on Tuesday which was earlier than its scheduled arrival of 9 am. Upon the ship’s arrival, there is already a crowd of media personnel waiting outside the cruise center. The arrival and even the departure halls are closed to the public. The Strait Times is knowledgeable that Costa Fortuna is the only cruise ship expected to dock on Tuesday in Marina Bay Cruise Center.
It was observed that passengers were of various nationalities such as British, French, Belgian, Austrian, and German to name a few.