Hurtigruten cancels Svalbard-cruise as 35 crew members are diagnosed with Covid-19

«MS Roald Amundsen» arrived in Tromsø on Friday with two ill, and isolated, crew-members onboard. The two were hospitalized and tested for coronavirus. The rest of the crew consisting of 158 people were tested and on Saturday the cruise-liner confirmed that in total 35 of the crew are infected by the virus. 

None of the crew that tested positive, and still are onboard the ship, are sick or have other symptoms. 

While the crew is on board, the passengers disembarked Friday morning before the outbreak was announced. Local newspaper Nordlys could Friday evening tell that four crew members have tested positive. All four are hospitalized in Tromsø. Passengers that disembarked in Tromsø tells to Norwegian media that they first were informed about the outbreak when reading online newspapers. All passengers are to be quarantined and tested for Covid-19. 

«MS Roald Amundsen» arrived at Tromsø after a voyage to Svalbard that started on July 24th with 177 passengers. The ship is one of very few that have sailed the waters around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard this summer.

Several tens of other high-end expedition cruise voyages supposed to sail the Arctic were canceled earlier this year after the global coronavirus outbreak.

Hurtigruten says in the press release it will contact all passengers that have been onboard the last sailings, with departures on July 17th and July 24th, and inform them about the outbreak and provide advice on what to do. The voyage with the ship, supposed to sail from Tromsø to Svalbard Friday afternoon, is logically canceled.

This story was updated on Saturday, August 1st. 

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