NORWAY - After halting all trips due to procedural errors which caused COVID-19 outbreak on their ship including five passengers and 36 crew, a Norwegian cruise ship line apologized on Monday but officials from the health sector fear that the ship could have infected numerous towns and villages along the western coast of Norway.
Previously on board the MS Roald Amundsen, the 41 people who tested positive were admitted at North Norway's Tromsoe's University Hospital. The ship is currently docked in the area, which is just north of the Arctic Circle, CBS News reported.
Daniel Skjeldam, CEO of the Hurtigruten shared in a statement that based on their initial evaluation, there has been a failure in a number of their internal procedures.
He also added that since their ship sails along the picturesque coast of Norway, from the coast of Bergen in the South going to the Kirkenes in the North, all of the areas within their route are now
part of a full review process handled by their own company.
Passengers of the cruise line company who had been on board on MS Roald Amundsen from dates July 17-24 and another trip from July 25-31 which are trips from Bergen to the popular site of polar bears, Svalbard's Arctic archipelago. Based on the company's record, there were 209 guests onboard during the first trip while there are 178 guests on the second trip.
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Out of 158 MS Roald Amundsen crew members who were tested for COVID-19, 122 of them had 122 negative results.
Aside from its leisure purposes, the cruise ship also serves as a local ferry as it can transport you from one port to another on the western coast of Norway. Not only passengers dispersed during these trips but most likely the virus, as well as some of its passengers, disembarked along the route causing a higher chance of virus transmission to their local communities.
According to BBC, 69 municipalities were affected in Norway because of the incident.
As of the moment, the municipality of Tromsoe is currently urging anyone who traveled using the ship or had any contact with the ship to communicate with the health authorities.
Since guests of the cruise ship came from all over the world, the start of the outbreak remains a mystery. Out of 36 crew members that tested positive with COVID-19, 33 of them came from the Philippines while the other three came from France, Germany, And France.
Based on the statement of Skjeldam, officials of the cruise ship did not know that a notification should be sent to the passengers after the report of the first case on Friday aside from following the doctors' advice.
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Line Vold stated that his advice was to inform passengers and crew as soon as possible so they could mow their health and proceed into quarantine if there is a need.
Meanwhile, Skjeldam also admitted that their company had mistakes and saddened by what happened but they are taking full responsibility for it.
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