182 taken off Ha Long Bay cruise ship for quarantine

The six-star Ambassador Cruise with 122 passengers and 60 crew members was ordered ashore for isolation while sailing in the bay Monday after a galley worker was found to have come into close contact with a Covid-19 patient in Ha Nam Province.

The ship owned by Ha Long Pacific Co., Ltd. left port on Sunday for an overnight tour of the bay that was slated to end on Monday afternoon.

Contact tracing showed the crew member had visited Ha Nam Province, attended a wedding and was at an Internet cafe used by a Covid patient.

Since April 29 Ha Nam has had 14 Covid cases.

But by Tuesday morning it was confirmed that the worker, the rest of the crew and the passengers tested negative for the new coronavirus.

All of them have left the ship and been sent to various quarantine facilities in Quang Ninh.

The ship is now docked in a secluded area near Bai Chay Wharf in the bay after being disinfected as mandated by Covid prevention protocols.

So far 36 cases have been found in Vietnam's latest wave which began on April 29 after more than a month without local transmission.