All Westerdam Guests Still in Cambodia Test Negative for Coronavirus

All passengers from Holland America Line’s Westerdam remaining in Cambodia have tested negative for the coronavirus after a passenger who had flown from the country to Malaysia was found to be carrying the illness. 

“The Cambodian Ministry of Health has just issued a press release announcing that all 781 Westerdam passengers remaining in Cambodia have tested negative for the coronavirus,” the cruise line said in its latest statement. 

Over the weekend an 83-year-old American woman who had been on the ship and flew from Cambodia to Malaysia was found to be carrying the virus. As a result, all further movement of passengers and crew from the ship was frozen. 

The Westerdam had docked in the Port of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Friday, after it had been turned away from several ports due to concerns regarding the coronavirus. The ship had been sailing a 14-day itinerary out of Hong Kong that departed February 1. 

Holland America has cancelled the Westerdam’s upcoming cruise out of Yokohama, offering affected guests a full refund, a 50 percent future cruise credit and reimbursement of cancellation fees. No cancellations for cruises with departure dates March 14 and beyond have been announced at this time. 

There are currently over 73,300 cases of the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, in 26 countries worldwide, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO). There have been 1,870 people killed by the illness thus far, three of them outside of China

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