MS River Anuket

Cruise ship

MS River Anuket (also known as Asara)^[1] is a River Anuket-class cruise ship owned and operated by Holland America Line.

On 6 March 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships, the Egyptian Health Ministry and World Health Organization confirmed 12 new cases of SARS-CoV-2.^[2] The infected persons were among the Egyptian staff aboard travelling from Aswan to Luxor.^[3] All those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 did not show any symptoms of the disease. According to tests, the virus spread from a Taiwanese-American female tourist on the ship.^[4]

On 7 March, health authorities announced that 45 people on board had tested positive, and that the ship had been placed in quarantine at a dock in Luxor.^[3] On 9 March, the first international case from the cruise ship came after an American went home and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.^[5]

References

1. Raghavan, Sudarsan; Kornfield, Meryl (7 March 2020). "On the Nile, American tourists are among those quarantined on ship hit by coronavirus". Washington Post.
2. "Twelve asymptomatic coronavirus cases registered on Nile cruise ship". Reuters. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
3. Michael, Maggie; Magdy, Samy (7 March 2020). "Egypt says cruise ship quarantined over new virus cluster". Washington Post. AP. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020.
4. Walsh, Declan; Rashwan, Nada (7 March 2020). "On Nile Cruiser, 12 Crew Test Positive for Virus, and Egypt Fears Broader Outbreak". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
5. "The tale of a Nile cruise that spawned an international coronavirus outbreak". Washington Post. 13 March 2020.