Authorities to track Cambodia cruise passengers after coronavirus case reported

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia - Health authorities scrambled on Monday to track hundreds of passengers who disembarked from a cruise ship in Cambodia last week after a woman tested positive for coronavirus.

Holland America Line, which is owned by cruise giant Carnival Corp, said it is working with governments and health experts to track passengers.

"Guests who have already returned home will be contacted by their local health department and be provided further information," the company said in a statement.

Nearly 200 passengers from the Westerdam have returned to their home countries after travelling through Malaysia and Thailand, authorities said, though none of them displayed any symptoms.

Some 1,455 passengers and 802 crew first embarked on the cruise. It spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by Japan, China's Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand even though the ship said there were no coronavirus cases aboard.

In Cambodia, at least 236 passengers and 747 crew remain aboard the vessel off the port city of Sihanoukville, Holland America said.

Several hundred other Westerdam passengers who left the ship are still in hotels in Cambodia and are being tested on Monday for coronavirus, according to passenger Holley Rauen, a public health nurse and midwife from Fort Myers, Florida.

Reuters