Passengers on 3 cruise liners in Maldives cleared for COVID-19

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, said it had conducted thermal scanning on 4,478 passengers and crew members onboard three cruise liners which traveled to Maldives in February, all of whom have been cleared for the deadly COVID-19 virus which has been declared a global health emergency.

Two of the scans were conducted on passengers and crew members onboard the cruise liners MS Marco Polo and Nautica on Saturday, February 23.

The number of people scanned from MS Marco Polo totaled 984; 341 passengers and 643 crew members. While eight showed signs of fever, none of them had visited China in the past 14 days or met the criteria for isolation or quarantine for COVID-19.

The number of people scanned from Nautica totaled 1,034; 399 passengers and 635 crew members. While two showed signs of fever, neither of them had visited China in the past 14 days or met the criteria for isolation or quarantine for COVID-19.

The third scan was conducted on passengers onboard MS Costa Victoria on Thursday, February 20.

The number of people scanned from MS Costa Victoria totaled 2,460; 1,674 passengers and 786 crew members. While 12 showed signs of fever, none of them had visited China in the past 14 days or met the criteria for isolation or quarantine for COVID-19.

Maldives has now established facilities to run tests for the COVID-19 virus within the country. No one from Maldives has tested positive for the virus, as of yet.