MS ''River Anuket'' (also known as ''Asara'') is a River Anuket-class

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

owned and operated by Holland America Line. On 6 March 2020 during

COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships Early in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease spread to a number of cruise ships, with the nature of such shipsincluding crowded semi-enclosed areas, increased exposure to new environments, and limited medical resources ...

, the Egyptian Health Ministry and

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

confirmed 12 new cases of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

. The infected persons were among the Egyptian staff aboard travelling from

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

. All those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 did not show any symptoms of the disease. According to tests, the virus spread from a Taiwanese-American female tourist on the ship. On 7 March, health authorities announced that 45 people on board had tested positive, and that the ship had been placed in quarantine at a dock in

. On 9 March, the first international case from the cruise ship came after an American went home and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

References

Ships of the Holland America Line Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic {{COVID-19-stub