KUALA LUMPUR: Six foreigners, who were onboard a Westerdam cruise ship docked in Cambodia which had one passenger test positive for Covid-19 infection, have been given a clean bill of health.
Four of the six are Americans while two are Dutch nationals. They were among 145 people from the cruise ship who had arrived in KL via a Malaysia Airlines chartered flight last week.
Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement tonight, said the six were subjected to Covid-19 detection tests on Feb 16.
He said test results from the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) showed that they did not have the Covid-19 infection.
“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,” he said.
The Westerdam cruise liner had docked in Hong Kong a day before embarking on a 14-day East Asia Cruise on Feb 1. However, it was denied docking by Japan, the Philippines and Thailand after a few passengers of another cruise ship Diamond Princess that had been berthing in Japan were tested positive for Covid-19.
The ship was later allowed to anchor in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on Feb 13.
The cruise liner had chartered MAS flights to ferry a part of the ship passengers from Sihanoukville International Airport to various destinations via KLIA.
MAS was supposed to provide four flights from Feb 14 to 16. However after it was informed that one of the passengers, an American woman, tested positive for Covid-19, MAS cancelled the remaining flights.
The woman is now being treated in the Sungai Buloh Hospital. Her husband tested negative for the virus.
Of the remaining 143 passengers who were found asymptomatic, 137 had continued their journeys.