LISBON.
More than 40 Portuguese are being held on a ship in Luxor, Egypt, awaiting the screening of Egyptian health services because of dozens of cases of infection with the new coronavirus detected on another cruise in the region.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Sandra Monteiro, one of the Portuguese passengers of the ship “MS Princess Sarah”, explained that she arrived in Cairo on March 3rd and entered this cruise in Luxor on Saturday, to make the descent of the Nile River.
“We left, visited the temple and returned. This morning we were informed that national security and hygiene are coming to track all cruises because of Covid-19,” the Portuguese passenger told Lusa.
Sandra Monteiro says that on the ship “MS Princess Sarah” there are at least 43 Portuguese, in addition to other Puerto Rican, Argentine, Spanish and Chinese passengers and that there are dozens of cruises stopped in Luxor awaiting the same screening.
“There are several cruises in the same situation. We are the third, we have five more on our side and behind us are identical lines, with nine to 10 cruises each, side by side,” he added.
The Portuguese says there are no suspicious cases on the cruise “MS Princess Sarah”, but that there was suspicion on one of the other ships.
“To move to the city, we have to go through the various cruises, in a corridor, and we will also visit temples where infected people were …”, said the Portuguese, adding: “The city is closed, we cannot leave and they will do it tracking all, regardless of whether the ship is referenced (with suspicious cases) or not “.
Sandra Monteiro also said that the authorities expect to have the screening work completed by the end of today and that the forecast was to spend the night in Luxor tonight.
“Inside the cruise we can circulate. They are always disinfecting the common areas. They have already closed the rooms, as we were going to leave,” explained Sandra Monteiro, stressing that on this ship “all passengers are in a good mood and nobody has symptoms”.
“We are waiting (…) We are aware that those who are not here are more anxious to know how we are. But we are fine,” he added.
On Sunday, passengers and crew on the ship “A-Sara”, which is in Luxor, were removed from the vessel after dozens of cases of infection with the new coronavirus were identified.
The Covid-19 epidemic, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, was detected in December in China and has already caused more than 3,800 deaths.
About 110,000 people have been infected in more than a hundred countries. More than 62,000 recovered.
