Attempts to restart the cruise industry in Singapore have run aground after a passenger was found to be infected with the coronavirus.

Now 2,000 passengers on the journey "to nowhere" have been isolated.

In the hope of boosting tourism in Singapore, a number of ”nowhere” cruises have been arranged from the city. The large ships drop anchor in Singapore, travel out to the waters outside for a few days, and then return without calling anywhere else.

Now it looks like those trips will have to be paused. A person on board one of Royal Caribbean's ships has been found to be infected with the coronavirus and all 2,000 or so people on board have been isolated in their cabins.

According to the shipping company, all those who had contact with the infected person have tested negative for the virus and the passengers are expected to disembark on Wednesday. However, all must be tested again and a number of them will be placed in a two-week quarantine.

The cruises, which are only open to Singapore residents, began last week as part of the city's efforts to revive tourism. The current case is a new setback for the country, which was forced to postpone plans for a travel bubble to Hong Kong in November.

The cruise industry has taken a major economic hit from the corona pandemic, not least since several early outbreaks were detected on board ships in countries such as Japan and Australia.

Singapore has fared relatively well during the pandemic with just over 58,000 confirmed infections and 29 deaths.

Source: TT