London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 18, 2025

Packed cruise ship held in HK amid outbreak

Vessel may be anchored for 14 days after mainland Chinese passengers found infected with coronavirus

Thousands of holidaymakers aboard one of Asia’s largest cruise liners are now stranded on the ship and may not be allowed to disembark for two more weeks, as health officials in Hong Kong, already grappling with a local contagion, wonder what to do with the “floating den of virus.”

The World Dream, a colossal 150,000-ton vessel carrying 3,600 passengers and crew members, cruised into Hong Kong, her home port, on Wednesday and docked at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Kowloon. Her voyage to Taiwan and back during the Lunar New Year break was cut short after authorities in Kaohsiung on Tuesday refused entry to everyone on board, and it was only after the ship was turned away that passengers became aware of the health scare.

It was revealed that eight mainland Chinese travelers who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus had walked up and down the ship’s 18 decks, dined at its restaurants and soaked up the sun in its jacuzzi pools during a previous voyage from Guangzhou to Vietnam from January 19 to 24.

Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection (CHP) is now tracking about 206 passengers who left the ship on January 24 in the city, as they could have had some contact with the mainlanders during the journey. Thirty-three crew members are displaying symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection and three of them have been put under isolation due to fever, though testing of the samples collected from them has shown no sign of coronavirus infection, with the result of a final one still pending.

The 2,000 passengers still trapped on the ship, mostly Hongkongers believed to have not interacted with the eight mainlanders as they departed on different dates, are not allowed to disembark and may continue to be stuck on the vessel for 14 days for quarantine, unless the CHP gives them a clean slate.

On Thursday, preventative port health inspection work was still underway, and, in full protective gear, personnel from the center’s Port Health Division have been assessing the health condition of passengers and crew members through health declarations and temperature checking.

The center has not ruled out holding the entire ship and everyone on it for epidemiological investigation and quarantine for 14 days, as the deadly pathogen, tracing its origin back to Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, may have passed from one passenger to another when thousands on the ship feasted, drank and reveled together during the voyage to Vietnam. The risk of more infections is still lurking in the shadows as the ship’s casinos and banquet halls could be crawling with the highly contagious virus.

The Hong Kong government announced on Wednesday that the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui would be closed with immediate effect, on top of a sweeping order imposing a 14-day mandatory quarantine on all entering the city from mainland China.

With total confirmed cases reaching 22 as of Thursday afternoon, fears have returned to haunt the city amid the ongoing epidemic, as it has the potential to tigger a repeat of the devastating SARS outbreak of 2003.

The cruise’s operator, Dream Cruise, said it had swiftly halted future voyages and stopped accepting new bookings, and would thoroughly sterilize the ship’s 1,686 guest rooms. But some stranded passengers are questioning why the captain did not issue the alert in time, even after the company had been notified by the Chinese authorities on Sunday of the eight infected mainlanders.

Meanwhile, many still on the ship continue to enjoy the amenities. The cinema, mahjong parlors and buffet restaurants are still buzzing with people.

Some told reporters over the phone that they would rather be quarantined on a well-appointed, luxury cruise than be locked up in a remote isolation camp, but others took to social media seeking masks and hand sanitizer, as the ship’s stocks had been depleted.

A Hong Kong police force riot squad has been stationed at the cruise terminal since Wednesday evening, when medical teams boarded to inspect passengers.

Meanwhile, Japan has confirmed 10 new cases of infection among the 3,711 on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which has been anchored off the port of Yokohama since earlier this week, after an 80-year-old man who disembarked during the ship’s Hong Kong port call on January 25 was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
×