People are seen aboard Dream Cruises’ World Dream cruise ship docked at Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore on July 14, 2021 after it returned to the city-state after a passenger tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus.
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Nearly 3,000 passengers and crew left a Dream Cruises ship on Wednesday after being locked in their cabins when a passenger tested positive for Covid-19.
All passengers and crew on board the three-day World Dream “Cruise to Nowhere” in Singapore had to isolate themselves in their cabins, with only the most important crew members being allowed to move around on the ship.
The guest had performed a rapid antigen test before boarding the cruise and it came back negative, but contact tracing found the guest was in close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case. The guest was then immediately isolated and tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, Dream Cruises, owned by Genting Cruise Line, said in a statement.
According to a report by Reuters, other guests on the ship were confined to their rooms at 1 a.m. local time. The travelers began to leave the ship around 8:30 p.m.
The guest’s travel companions have all tested negative for the virus and, along with those who came into contact with the guest, will disembark from a route separate from other passengers. The passenger who tested positive disembarked hours before other guests and the crew.
Contact tracing was carried out by tracking guests’ wearable devices, key cards and CCTV footage.
All other guests must fill out contactless self-check-out forms before leaving their room and perform a rapid antigen test at Marina Bay Cruise Center Singapore upon disembarkation, the company said.
Dream Cruises said guests must remain in their staterooms until the crew instructs them to disembark.
There were 1,646 passengers and 1,249 crew members on board the ship, said Dream Cruises.
The shipping company also canceled a two-day World Dream cruise that was scheduled for Wednesday.
This is the first positive Covid-19 test by the cruise line since the resumption of departures from Singapore in November 2020. World Dream had 103 departures with over 130,000 guests as of July 11.
In December, almost 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas ship had to isolate more than 16 hours in their cabins due to a suspected Covid case.