Up to 2000 people were stuck on a cruise liner in the South China Sea after the Holland America ship was refused entry to the Philippines due to fears of Coronavirus. This comes as the South Australian Government announced 56 people had been tested for the deadly virus across the state.
Philippines President temporarily banned travellers from Hong Kong, Macau and China from disembarking in the country after the Phillippines recorded the first death from 2019-nCoV outside of China.
Holland America's ms Westerdam left Hong Kong on Saturday, February 1, after a 6-hour stay, but around 24 hours into her trip to Manila the Captain announced the ship would not be allowed into the Philippines.
The cruise line announced in a blog post on January 28 that it would still dock in Hong Kong for the February 1 voyage, but that the trip would end in Yokohama rather than Shanghai.
An update said voyages would no longer visit Hong Kong from February 15.
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.