Vietnam turned away a German-owned cruise ship with over 1,000 passengers on board over coronavirus fears.
The official Vietnam News Agency reported that authorities in Quang Ninh Province, which is home to the UNESCO world heritage site Ha Long Bay, had decided on Tuesday, February 11, not to allow passengers of the AIDA Cruises ship AIDAvita to disembark on Thursday, February 13.
The Agency said the vessel had docked in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore, which had all reported coronavirus cases. Not allowing AIDIvita’s guests to disembark was "just a temporary solution to prevent the intrusion of diseases,” a local official said.
The cruise ship left Coron, Busuanga Island Philippines on February 10 bound for Vietnam via the South China Sea. AIDAvita was scheduled to call at Ha Long Bay, northern Vietnam, on Saturday, February 15, and then head to Da Nang, Nha Trang, Saigon from February 16-20.
For other AIDAvita accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.
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.