Covid-19 out­break on Hur­tig­ru­ten-ship: all crui­ses can­cel­led

36 crew mem­bers and seve­ral pas­sen­gers on the Hur­tig­ru­ten-ship MS Roald Amund­sen were found to be infec­ted with Covid-19 on Fri­day. The Roald Amund­sen had made seve­ral expe­di­ti­on crui­ses from main­land Nor­way to Spits­ber­gen, but wit­hout visi­ting any of the sett­le­ments.

The ship is now in Trom­sø in iso­la­ti­on. Crew and pas­sen­gers are under­go­ing test­ing, qua­ran­ti­ne and medi­cal tre­at­ment as nee­ded.

Accor­ding to a press release from Hur­tig­ru­ten, the com­pa­ny sees the reason for the out­break in a com­bi­na­ti­on of fail­ure to fol­low inter­nal rules on board and the gro­wing num­ber of infec­tions in many count­ries. As a con­se­quence, Hur­tig­ru­ten has can­cel­led all crui­ses on MS Roald Amund­sen, MS Spits­ber­gen and MS Fri­dt­jof Nan­sen. Sche­du­led coas­tal traf­fic bet­ween Ber­gen and Kir­kenes is not con­cer­ned.

Hur­tig­ru­ten­ship MS Spits­ber­gen in Lon­gye­ar­by­en: all crui­ses are can­cel­led until fur­ther noti­ce becau­se of the Covid-19-infec­tions on the MS Roald Amund­sen.

The­re were also two local Nor­we­gi­an women on board during the latest crui­se of the MS Roald Amund­sen who had spent the last win­ter in the hut Bam­se­bu in Bell­sund. They were drop­ped off again the­re during the crui­se. Mean­while, they were also tes­ted for the Coro­na virus. The result: nega­ti­ve.

I wish all tho­se who got infec­ted a quick and com­ple­te reco­very!

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