A cruise ship company has strongly denied reports the Norwegian Star was in lockdown in Sydney on Friday after a passenger was being tested for possible coronavirus.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) issued a statement at 11am on Friday saying there was “no truth” to reports of a potential coronavirus case amongst its passengers.
Earlier, The Australian newspaper reported that NSW Health were attending to a Singaporean man and testing him after falling ill with a respiratory condition.
“This morning there were various false media reports related to an illness on board our ship,” a Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman said in a statement to AAP on Friday.
NCL said said the vessel, carrying 3445 passengers and crew on board, remained in operation and all the passengers were healthy.
“There is absolutely no truth to this. The vessel remains in operation, and all guests onboard are in good health.”
NSW Health told AAP on Friday that while no passengers of the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship had visited mainland China in the past 14 days they were being screened for the illness for precautionary reasons.
A spokesperson for Norweigan Cruise Line told @SBSNews reports that their ship had been locked-down in Sydney were false. "There is absolutely no truth to this. The vessel remains in operation, and all guests on board are in good health.” pic.twitter.com/wZD603LEaw
— Maani Truu (@maanitruu) February 13, 2020
This was similar to precautions being undertaken at Sydney Airport.
Norwegian Jewel is currently at Circular Quay and is not in lockdown.
Norwegian Cruise Line said it was currently barring all Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau passport holders from its ships regardless of residency.
The ship had earlier docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal about 6am on Friday and was scheduled to leave on Saturday afternoon at 5pm.
The cruise ship travelled from New Zealand on February 10 and had docked at other Australian ports during the past 10 days.
The New Zealand Herald said the ship had visited Port Chalmers near Dunedin, Auckland, Tauranga, Gisborne, Wellington and Akaroa.
NSW Health took to social media at 10am to send out a general advisory for symptoms of coronavirus.
Think you have symptoms of coronavirus? Call @healthdirectAU on 1800 022 222. Find the facts https://t.co/UTKI4YjbpS #coronavirus #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/SgL7TATWMu
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 13, 2020
-with AAP
The post Cruise liner denies reports of potential coronavirus case among passengers appeared first on The New Daily.
**Business and Marketing support on best price; Hit the link now----> http://bit.ly/2HsQmSi