(TAN): United States-based cruise line Royal Caribbean International has banned passengers with Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau passports from its ships amid fears over coronavirus, reports said.
Anyone with one of the three passports was barred from boarding a Royal Caribbean ship regardless of when the individual had last visited their home region, as per reports. Any guest or crew member, irrespective of nationality, who has travelled to any of these regions, or has come in contact with someone who has, in the last 15 days, were prohibited from boarding the company’s ships, reports said.
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According to reports, Royal Caribbean will test guests before boarding who are uncertain of encountering anyone who has travelled to mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, or show symptoms of flu or complain of illness. Also, anyone with fever will reportedly not be allowed to board one of the ships.
The news came after Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas ran into a coronavirus scare, as per reports. Earlier this week, 27 Chinese nationals onboard the Anthem of the Seas were screened for the virus, four of whom were taken to a local hospital for closer observation, reports said.
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The ship, docked in New Jersey, United States, reportedly arrived from an 11-day trip to the Caribbean. The cruise line has reportedly delayed its next trip by a day.
“In alignment with new stricter CDC protocols, we are tightening our measures to protect guests and crew. These steps are intentionally conservative, and we apologize that they will inconvenience some of our guests,” the cruise line was quoted by NBC News as saying.
The coronavirus has reportedly killed 722 people and infected 34,000 people.
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