Four Australians aboard a cruise ship off the coast of California could receive an update on their situation in the coming hours as they remain in lockdown over a possible COVID-19 outbreak. Test kits were dropped off by helicopter after 45 people on board showed symptoms of the disease. A 71-year-old man – who had been on the Grand Princess on a previous voyage – became the first fatality from the virus in California. The Grand Princess had been on a round trip from San Francisco to Hawaii. DFAT is offering consular assistance to any Australian citizen on board. Test results are expected back by Friday, local time. Image: AP

Four Australian on cruise ship in California await their fate over COVID-19 fears

Passengers on board the MV Viking Sun cruise ship who were turned away from two ports on Indonesia’s mainland have now been given the green light to dock in Bali.

More than 1,200 tourists, including Australians and Americans, on-board the luxury vessel were originally rejected entry by officials due to coronavirus fears.

However, in an eleventh hour backflip, the government allowed passengers to disembark in at Benoa Port in Bali.

According to Nine News, health officials overnight boarded the ship where they screened and cleared all 1,200 crew and passengers.

“The result is all passengers and crew in healthy condition so as harbour master I have no reason to avoid them to go down from the ship,” Agustinus Maun said.

An Australian man told Nine News that following more health checks “there’s no problem on the ship, no virus on the ship.”

“Everybody’s very healthy and we’re looking forward to a good time in Bali.”

Passengers have since been brought to shore at Bali’s Benoa Harbour via tender, where the retiree said they also had to fill out forms and receive a temperature check before being given the green light.

“This is a situation that can change from day to day, and we can well understand that the decision of whether or not to travel may be weighing on your mind – particularly for those with imminent departures,” the cruise line said on its website.

The decision is reportedly a backflip for Bali Governor Wayan Koster who had previously said disembarking would be banned.

Koster said health authorities wanted to prevent any potential spread of the deadly virus to the holiday island, which so far has no confirmed cases.

“As the best tourist destination in the world, we are very prone to health issues. Thus, we have to be careful,” he told the Jakarta Post.

“We don’t want to chase a small amount money if it could have a major negative impact on tourism, the backbone of Bali’s economy.”

“We will continue to update our guests and travel agent partners on any changes in itineraries or circumstance that may be relevant.”

Prior to being given the green light, a Viking told news.com.au they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision of being refused entry.

“The ship has received a clean bill of health from every port it has docked in since the start of its voyage,” the Viking statement read.

“We are extremely disappointed by the decision of the authorities to refuse entry of our vessel and the reasons we have been given are not based in fact and were not correct.”

Viking said since sailing commenced, the vessel has been regularly checked by independent health regulators, including the health officials in Indonesia and there have been no identified cases of any guests or crew suffering from ‘fevers, coughs or influenza’ like symptoms. “Whilst we respect the decision was made out of concern, we would reiterate that the decision was not rooted in fact,” the statement read.

G RAND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP, CALIFORNIA

Meanwhile, 21 people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast have tested positive for the new coronavirus, US Vice President Mike Pence confirmed.

The ship, with 3500 people from 54 countries on board, including four from Australia, are due to dock in Oakland, California on Monday after being stranded off the San Francisco coast due to the on-board virus outbreak.

Princess Cruises announced the update on Twitter, stating the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services confirmed guests who are non-Californians would be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states while California residents would go to a federally operated facility.

“The logistics plan went into further review by the state and federal authorities and the ship will not berth in Oakland on Sunday. It will now be Monday – time to be determined.”

Crew members, however, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship.

#GrandPrincess Update: The logistics plan went into further review by the state and federal authorities and the ship will not berth in Oakland on Sunday. It will now be Monday – time to be determined. — Princess Cruises (@PrincessCruises) March 8, 2020

“An agreement has been reached to bring our ship into the port of Oakland,” Grand Princess captain John Smith said.

“After docking, we will then begin a disembarkation process specified by federal authorities that will take several days.”

Coronavirus test kits were delivered to the ship on Thursday last week.

A video posted on social media by the California National Guard showed a military helicopter flying over the ship and lowering the test kits by rope.

The Grand Princess cruise ship was originally halted near San Francisco on Thursday after a traveller from a previous voyage died of the COVID-19 disease and several passengers and staff members began reporting flu-like symptoms.

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Two people who had been on the ship during its previous voyage then contracted the virus. One later died.

The person who died – a 71-year-old man – had been on-board the Grand Princess during its previous voyage between San Francisco and Mexico.

Pence said he believed the numbers of those infected was high among the crew as they had likely been exposed during two previous outings.

The ship had travelled around Hawaii and was making its way back to port when it was stopped.

MALAYSIA, THAILAND BAR COSTA FORTUNA

Malaysia and Thailand have barred a cruise ship carrying about 2000 people, including dozens of Italians, from docking due to fears about the new coronavirus, an official said Sunday.

The Costa Fortuna was first turned away from the popular Thai holiday island of Phuket Friday, despite there being no suspected virus cases aboard, according to its operator.

Thai authorities had imposed restrictions “on Italians that have transited in Italy in the last 14 days”, Costa Cruises said on Twitter.

The ship is carrying 64 Italians, according to Malaysian officials. Italy has been hard hit by the virus with more than 230 fatalities, the most deaths from the disease of any country outside China, where the outbreak began in December.

On Saturday the vessel tried to dock in the northern Malaysian state of Penang but was also refused entry, local politician Phee Boon Poh told AFP.

The decision was taken as Malaysia had decided to restrict entry of all cruise ships to the country’s ports, he said. Malaysia’s Star newspaper also reported a ban had been imposed.

After being denied entry by Malaysia, the ship was heading to neighbouring Singapore, said Phee.

The case has similarities with that of the Westerdam, a cruise ship that was at sea for two weeks and was rejected by five countries over fears its passengers could have the virus.

Cambodia finally allowed it to dock on the country’s southern coast on February 13.

MS RIVER ANUKET, EGYPT

In Egypt, a river cruise ship has been placed in lockdown after it emerged a Taiwanese-American tourist, who had previously been on the same ship, tested positive when she returned to Taiwan.

Health authorities first found that a dozen of the ship’s Egyptian crew members had contracted the fast-spreading virus, and said they did not show symptoms, according to a joint statement from Egypt’s Health Ministry and the WHO on Friday.

At a news conference in Cairo later Saturday, Health Minister Hala Zayed said 33 others tested positive for the virus. Of the total 45 infected passengers and crew, 19 were foreigners, officials said. Zayed did not elaborate on the nationalities of the non-Egyptians.

Officials said the 45 would be transferred to isolation in a hospital on Egypt’s north coast. The passengers – who include Americans, French and other nationalities – and the remaining crew remained quarantined on the ship awaiting further test results. The new cases brought to 48 the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Egypt, including 21 foreign nationals and 27 Egyptians.

Amonios Salah, who works as a chef on the ship, told The Associated Press that the crew received an inquiry from the Health Ministry about crew members showing flu-like symptoms.

“Some of us were sick. Some with fever,” he said.

DIAMOND PRINCESS, JAPAN

A man who had been on-board the Diamond Princess cruise ship and was infected with coronavirus has died, bringing the death toll from the ship to seven, Japanese public broadcaster NHK says.

The man was not Japanese, NHK said, without giving further details.

That would make him the second foreigner from the ship to die, after a British man died last month.

Japan’s handling of the outbreak on the luxury cruise ship, which was quarantined at the port of Yokohama, sparked international criticism and has tarnished what was supposed to be a triumphant Olympic year for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The ship was evacuated last month.

The number of domestic infections has risen to 1149 cases, NHK said, including 10 new infections in Osaka.

— with wires