An elderly passenger found to have COVID-19 on a RCI-Royal Caribbean International ship has since tested COVID-negative in two further tests, hours after Quantum of the Seas sailed back to Singapore.
In an update Wednesday night, the Ministry of Health said that the 83-year-old Singaporean man's original sample had been retested at the National Public Health Laboratory, and had come back negative for COVID-19. A second fresh sample tested by the laboratory had also come back negative. The ministry said the laboratory would conduct another test on Thursday to confirm the man's health status.
Royal Caribbean cut short the 3-night cruise to nowhere by a day, after the passenger tested positive onboard the Quantum of the Seas ship.
Passengers had to remain onboard Quantum OTS until World Dream completed boarding of all passengers for her next sailing from homeport Singapore (which was ~6 PM) to prevent any intermingling between travelers or crew from both vessels.
Passengers had their temperatures taken prior to leaving Quantum OTS. They were placed in groups comprising between 10-25 people with specific departure times in order to reduce crowding.
In an update at 11:30 PM, RCI announced its decision to cancel its 4-night cruise set to depart on Thursday, December 10, when the entire crew will undergo PCR tests and the ship will go through deep cleaning and disinfection after all passengers have disembarked.
Quantum OTS, carrying 1680 passengers plus 1148 crew, arrived in Singapore at 8 AM on Wednesday after turning back on day 3 of the 3-night/4-day voyage.
For more Quantum of the Seas accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.