I spoke too soon!! COVID 19 reaches the Nile

edited March 2020 in Egypt

We are still going if we can and things don't get worse, but I just read this in the Washington Post:

Egypt reports 12 infected passengers onboard Nile River cruise ship

Cruise ships continue to emerge as coronavirus hot spots, with Egypt reporting Friday that 12 people [all ship's staff] onboard a vessel on the Nile have tested positive. The country’s Ministry of Health said on its Facebook page that a single passenger, described as a Taiwanese tourist who had come from the United States, had tested positive after leaving the ship, which was bound from Aswan to Luxor.

Subsequent testing of those she had possible contact with revealed a dozen additional infections. The new cases were described as asymptomatic, meaning the virus was present in their bodies but they showed no symptoms. The posting said those infected were being moved to a hospital, and other passengers would be subject to two weeks of quarantine.

Cruising on the Nile has become increasingly popular as Egypt’s tourism economy has rebounded from political upheaval and terrorist attacks in recent years. Many of the itineraries are sold out for the coming summer season, according to industry reports.

The cruise ship, named River, was NOT an Oberoi/Tauck boat.

Comments

  • AlanS.....sending good vibes to the Universe that your trip will NOT be affected.

  • edited March 2020

    PureLuxury
    March 6

    AlanS.....sending good vibes to the Universe that your trip will NOT be affected.

    Thanks.
    More details are coming out but the reports are incomplete and it is unclear whether the crew got the virus from the traveler from Taiwan or vice versa. Egypt is claiming the traveler exposed the crew and other travelers. According the Washington Post, it is possible, but not certain whether the outbreak on the ship is linked to other infections reported in the United States and elsewhere involving recent travelers to Egypt. Eight people in the Houston area reportedly developed covid-19, caused by the virus, after they returned to the United States on Feb. 20 following a Nile cruise in Egypt. French authorities have said several people tested positive after visiting Egypt, and at least three cases have been confirmed in Canada among recent travelers to Egypt, according to Canadian authorities. Some people in Maryland who also traveled to Egypt and have tested positive were exposed on the same Nile riverboat. The Egyptian cruise ship workers were tested for the virus at the end of its 14-day incubation period, said Egyptian health authorities, which suggests the infections occurred during a cruise between the cities of Aswan and Luxor, sometime in the third week of February. It would be nice for future travelers if this outbreak is confined to that boat only. We don't arrive in Aswan until 27 Mar so there is time for this minor* outbreak to resolve itself one way or another before then.

    • up until this latest incident involving 15 local crew on a single boat, there had been only 3 confirmed cases in all of Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation with more than 100 million people.

    Keeping my fingers crossed and staying tuned. It is out of my hands- if Tauck runs the tour, we will be on it, absolutely no question about that!! Two weeks of agony to go! :)

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