Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 5) — Hundreds of Filipinos are among those on another cruise ship quarantined for possible coronavirus infection, this time off the coast of California, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Thursday.
Duque said there are around 500 Filipino crew members on the MV Grand Princess, the ship that US officials stopped from returning to San Francisco after a passenger on a previous trip died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The ship traveled between San Francisco and Mexico in February. It then left San Francisco for Hawaii on another cruise. A passenger on the first trip to Mexico – a 71-year-old man with underlying health conditions – died of COVID-19. There are 62 passengers on the ship who sailed on the San Francisco-Mexico voyage and remained onboard for the cruise to Hawaii, CNN reported.
Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are still verifying details about Grand Princess and authorities have not received any request for Filipinos to be fetched from the cruise ship.
The quarantined vessel is currently carrying 2,500 people with 11 passengers and ten crew members showing symptoms, said California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom has since declared a state of emergency to trace people who came in contact with the victim who died.
The MV Grand Princess is under Princess Cruises, the same company that owns another cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan for COVID-19 outbreak. At least 706 people on that ship in Yokohama were infected and six died, according to the global trracking by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Princess Cruises said it is working with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist its guests and to track people who made contact with those who became ill.
From the Diamond Princess, 445 Filipinos were brought home to the Philippines and were quarantined in Tarlac.
The government said it is still waiting for the test results of two people quartined in Tarlac who have shown flu-like symptoms. However, seven others who also previously showed symptoms already tested negative.
