It was reported yesterday (9 Mar) that the Singapore authorities have decided to let the Italian cruise ship Costa Fortuna to dock in Singapore today (10 Mar) after it was turned away by Malaysia and Thailand amid the COVID-19 outbreak (‘Italian cruise ship will dock in Singapore as scheduled, after it turned away by Malaysia and Thailand‘).
The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore released a statement yesterday saying, “All of its passengers had embarked earlier from Singapore, and completed pre-embarkation checks based on prevailing policies for travel history and temperature screening as required by the cruise line and the terminal operator prior to boarding.”
Separately yesterday, Director of Medical Services from the Ministry of Health Kenneth Mak said that Singapore will continue to accept ships, including cruise ships.
“What’s important is that as we receive some of these ships back in Singapore, we have a high degree of vigilance to make sure that none of (the passengers) are infected, and if they are, then we must be vigilant in making sure that we’re able to identify them, isolate them and control any further spread,” said Mak.
He added that Singapore has had ships coming into and leaving the country since the Covid-19 outbreak began in January.
However, during Q&A, Mak did acknowledge that the possibility of a virus spreading is potentially much higher in a ship as most interactions on a cruise ship occur during social activities such as meals.
Meanwhile at the Singapore port this morning, the cruise ship Costa Fortuna docked at about 7.35am. A pool of media personnel including those from international news agencies were already waiting outside the cruise centre.
About an hour later, the first group of passengers left the ship and were observed to board a waiting bus. Passengers from this group told the media that they were from Germany. Later more buses came. Some were heading to Carlton Hotel while others to Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said the ship had declared that none of its passengers currently on board was having a fever or had other symptoms of respiratory illness.
“Like all other cruise ships departing from Singapore’s cruise terminals, Costa Fortuna was disinfected prior to its departure from Singapore,” the Singapore authorities assured.
The ship was stopped by Thai and Malaysian authorities last week when it wanted to dock at Phuket, Penang and Port Klang. Thailand has imposed restrictions “on Italians that have transited in Italy in the last 14 days” while Malaysia has issued a blanket ban on all cruise ships. The ship is said to be carrying 60 Italians.
