36 crew of a Norwegian cruise ship tested positive for coronavirus, Filipinos among them

An official said on Saturday that 36 crew members are confined on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus or Covid-19 where most of the infected are Filipinos.

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On Friday, the crew of the MS Roald Amundsen was quarantined on board the ship after four staff members tested positive for the virus and were hospitalized. They are arriving at the northern Norwegian port of Tromso from the archipelago of Svalbard

36 are infected of the 158 crew members on board, Pal Jakobsen, media officer for the city of Tromso, told AFP, confirming a development that raises fears of a resurgence of cases in Norway.

It had been earlier indicated that there were 33 positive tests by the ship’s company Hurtigruten.

The infected crews were all Filipino apart from three people from France, Norway and Germany.

Four crew members were isolated several days ago because of other disease symptoms, with no symptoms of COVID-19 according to company on Friday.

"There was no reason to suspect COVID-19 when the ship docked in Tromso based on the symptoms they were showing," Hurtigruten said.

The ship had nearly 180 passengers on board since departing on July 25. None of the passengers reported symptoms related to coronavirus during the voyage, Hurtigruten said.

All passengers disembarked the ship on Friday but about 60 people have since been quarantined in Tromso, the cruise line said on Saturday.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has not ruled out the possibility of more cases emerging, but they’ll be able to have answers after tests have been implemented. Passengers are then recommended to remain quarantined while waiting for their results.

Norway had 9,208 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Friday. One person died of the virus on Friday night, bringing the country's death toll to 256. It was the first coronavirus-related death in the Nordic country in two weeks.