HONG KONG: Thousands of people stranded aboard a cruise ship in Hong Kong for five days were allowed to disembark on Sunday after its 1,800 crew tested negative for the deadly novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The government grounded the ship on its arrival in Hong Kong on Wednesday while tests were carried out on the crew, but said the passengers need not undergo examination as they had no contact with the three sick holidaymakers on the January trip. First found in the city of Wuhan in central China last December, the virus has infected more than 37,000 people on the Chinese mainland and at least 26 in Hong Kong. The passengers and crew isolated on the vessel had been expecting to stay aboard until Tuesday after Hong Kong authorities said testing would take at least four days. Hong Kong on Saturday began enforcing a 14-day quarantine period on all people arriving from mainland China in a fresh bid to curb the spread of the virus.

Source: New Strait Times February 09, 2020 10:41 UTC