A cruise ship on Nile River in Egypt with 150+ tourists and crew was quarantined on Saturday, March 7, in Luxor City, after 12 people tested positive for Coronavirus.
A cruiser who had previously been on the same riverboat tested positive after returning to Taiwan. The World Health Organization (WHO) informed Egyptian authorities, who tested every one on the ship MS River Anuket.
Health authorities found a dozen of the Egyptian crew members had contracted the deadly virus but did not show symptoms, a joint statement from the WHO and Egypt’s Health Ministry said.
The 12 people will be transferred to isolation in a hospital on the north coast of the country. The passengers (including from France and USA) along with the crew will remain quarantined onboard awaiting further test results.
Image: Nile river ship MS River Anuket docks in Luxor in southern Egypt on Saturday, March 7
The voyage started from Luxor, approx 405 mi (655 km) south of Cairo, on Sunday. The cruise ship, which has capacity 60 staterooms, made 3 stops before reaching homeport Aswan. On the way back there were 3 more stops, potentially expanding the number of people exposed to Coronavirus.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.