A Costa Crociere cruiseship was barred by Thailand and Malaysia from docking due to coronavirus fears is scheduled to make its scheduled call in Singapore on Tuesday.

According to Maritime and Port of Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), all passengers aboard the 102,700-gt cruiseship Costa Fortuna (built 2003) will undergo health checks when they disembark in Singapore.

“The cruise ship will dock in Singapore as part of a scheduled call,” said the two authorities. “Costa Fortuna departed Singapore on 3 March and was turned away from other ports on its itinerary in Thailand and Malaysia before heading back to Singapore.”

The ship is carrying about 2,000 people which includes 64 Italians. The Costa Fortuna was turned away from Phuket on Friday and was also barred from docking in Penang on Saturday.

Home ported in Singapore, the Costa Fortuna has declared that none of its passengers currently aboard the ship have a fever or other symptoms of respiratory illness.

“All passengers had embarked from Singapore and completed pre-embarkation checks 'based on prevailing policies for travel history and temperature screening' as required by the cruise line and the terminal operator before boarding,” said MPA and STB.

Doctor checks

“Before disembarking, passengers and crew members will be checked by the doctor on board the ship to ensure they are healthy. Passengers who are identified for Covid-19 swab testing but refuse to do so will not be allowed entry into Singapore.”

Singapore’s cruise terminals remain open to scheduled cruise calls out of the port. However, unscheduled calls have not been allowed in Singapore since 24 February.

The city-state is providing some measures to provide relief to cruise and ferry operators, which have seen a drop in passenger volumes due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The new concessions, to be given from 1 March 2020 to 31 August 2020, include a 50% port dues concession on all passenger vessels.

Costa Crociere said it would cancel a cruise due to depart on 10 March from Singapore.

Singapore reported 12 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total number of infected cases to 150.