A general view shows the World Dream cruise ship, docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong on Feb 6, 2020. (PHILIP FONG/AFP)
HONG KONG - Novel coronavirus screening for some 1,800 crew members abroad a quarantined ship docked at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal is expected to complete by Tuesday, according to Hong Kong's Department of Health on Saturday.
READ MORE: HK checks quarantined ship for virus, 3 crew hospitalized
All 3,600 people on board World Dream cruise ship, including around 1,800 passengers, will be allowed to disembark if no crew member tests positive for the virus
All 3,600 people on board the World Dream cruise ship, including around 1,800 passengers, will be allowed to disembark if no crew member tests positive for the virus, the department said.
The virus has infected 26 people in Hong Kong and more than 30,000 on Chinese mainland as of Saturday.
The cruise ship has been docking at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong since Wednesday. All people on board have been quarantined since then as eight passengers from the Chinese mainland who had traveled on the ship from Jan 19 to 24 were found to be infected with the virus.
At a press conference, Leung Yiu-hong, chief port health officer of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, said all passengers currently on board have had no contact with the eight infected patients.
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The eight patients, along with passengers in the previous cruise who had contacts with them, disembarked from the ship on Jan 24 before the latest batch of some 1,800 passengers boarded the ship.
In addition, crew members and passengers who claimed to have fever, cough or sore throat have all tested negative for the virus, Leung added.
