The optimism on display just two months ago when Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung pledged to reopen the city-state and its tourism-reliant economy has taken a beating after a possible local coronavirus case was found aboard one of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.’s ships.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the 1,680 passengers on Quantum of the Seas -- enjoying day three of a four-day cruise to nowhere -- and 1,148 crew were alerted to an announcement that a suspected case of Covid-19 had been discovered, the voyage was being cut short and everyone should remain in their staterooms.
“At 2:30am, the captain made an announcement saying that the vessel was officially going into quarantine.”
A Royal Caribbean cruise turned back to Singapore after a #Covid19 case was found. @mangogemini reports from the ship.
It was the second blow in as many months after a highly anticipated air travel bubble with Hong Kong was axed before it even started, leaving would-be travelers on both sides of the South China Sea stranded, their hopes of quarantine-free reunions with family and friends dashed.
As Wednesday dragged on, some people on the ship, now back at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre, took to their balconies for fresh air in an all-too familiar 2020 sight -- another floating palace, docked but isolated as the arduous process of contact tracing and testing gets underway.
The 83-year-old male who tested positive was found to be negative in a subsequent tests, Singapore Ministry of Health said.
By late Wednesday, all passengers had disembarked. They were tested before being allowed to leave the terminal.
“Even in the early days of the pandemic, cruise ships posed a high risk of outbreaks, and these in turn can spill over into communities,” said Raina MacIntyre, a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “The pandemic today is far, far worse than it was in May, when cruising stopped. This means the risk of an infected passenger boarding or an infected staff member being on board is higher now.”
Singapore’s ill-fated attempts to enliven tourism underscore the difficulties of getting any sort of travel up and running even in a nation where community cases have been close to zero for several weeks. Stringent protocols to permit the pilot sea voyages had been established, including extensive testing of crew and passengers. The cruises, including another that’s being run by Genting’s World Dream, were also required to sail at a reduced passenger capacity of 50%.