Six Passengers Of Westerdam Ship Test Negative To Coronavirus - Malaysia

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2020) Six foreign passengers of the Westerdam cruise ship, which has docked in Cambodia after being rejected by five ports in Asia over coronavirus threats, have tested negative to COVID-19, Malaysian Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Monday.

According to Malaysia's The New Straits Times newspaper, four of those six passengers are US citizens, while two others are Dutch nationals. One of the passengers, a woman from the United States, had been earlier confirmed as having the deadly virus. She is currently being treated at a local hospital.

"They are currently in good health. The related embassies have been informed accordingly of these results and they will be allowed to continue with their respective outbound flights to their next destination," the minister said, as quoted by the newspaper, adding that results from the Institute for Medical Research revealed they did not have the virus.

The ship with over 2,000 passengers aboard, operated by the US Holland America Line, had been out at sea for nearly two weeks after it was barred from pulling into ports in Taiwan, Japan, Guam, Thailand and the Philippines over fears that people on the ship could have the novel coronavirus. As of now, 137 of 143 passengers who does not have the virus had been sent to their homeland.

The new strain of coronavirus - COVID-19 - was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December and has since spread to more than 25 countries. The virus has already resulted in 1,775 fatalities, with over 70,000 people having been infected.