An American woman who left the M.S. Westerdam in Cambodia last week and flew to Malaysia Saturday with more than a hundred other passengers has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Westerdam was turned away from Guam 10 days ago because of concern over the possible spread of the coronavirus.
According to a post on Holland-America Lines blog, a news conference was held in Kuala Lumpur Sunday at which health officials said that the woman reported feeling ill at the airport. She was taken to the hospital and is reported to be in stable condition. Her husband tested negative for exposure to the coronavirus.
All but the American woman and her husband were eventually allowed to continue to their destinations in the United States, the Netherlands and Australia.
That has alarmed health experts who fear that some other passengers may have been exposed to the virus and may now spread it in their home countries.
The Westerdam was also denied docking right in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines before the Cambodian government last week allowed it to dock in Sihanoukville and off load all its more than 2-thousand 2-hundred passengers and crew. 800 of whom boarded at Hong Kong.
Before it docked in Cambodia the ship’s owner … Holland America Lines .. said there were no known cases of coronavirus on board.
The ship was at sea for just under 14 days, the time frame that is believed to be the maximum incubation period for the highly transmissible virus.
