* Was due to travel around the British Isles
* Breakdown in several internal procedures -CEO
* At least 41 passengers and crew have COVID-19
* Police open investigation
(Recasts with suspension of cruise ship traffic, updates CEO
quote)
By Terje Solsvik and Nora Buli
OSLO, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Norway stopped all cruise ships with
more than 100 people on board from disembarking at its ports
from Monday, after an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported late
last week on a ship that had already disembarked at the port of
Tromsoe.
At least 41 passengers and crew who were on board the cruise
ship MS Roald Amundsen, operated by Norwegian company
Hurtigruten, have so far tested positive for the coronavirus,
while hundreds more on board were told to self-isolate for 10
days, local public health officials said on Sunday. Norway is in touch with Germany, Denmark, Austria,
Philippines and Latvia as passengers and crew on board came from
these countries, officials said.
Ships that have already departed will be able to offload
passengers and crew at Norwegian ports, but those yet to start
journeys will not be able to do so, Norwegian Health Minister
Bent Hoie said. The new rules are effective for the next 14
days.
"The pandemic is not over," Hoie told a news conference.
The Nordic country of 5.4 million inhabitants had reopened
most of society in recent weeks as it got the COVID-19 pandemic
under control. Some 9,268 infections have been reported in
Norway as of Monday, with 256 deaths.
FIRST OUT
Hurtigruten was the first cruise operator worldwide to
return an oceangoing cruise ship to service in mid-June, touting
reduced passenger capacity, social distancing and strict rules
on hygiene. It will now suspend all so-called expedition cruises
until further notice.
"We have failed," CEO Daniel Skjeldamn told a news
conference. "I apologise strongly on behalf of the company."
The MS Roald Amundsen had been scheduled to sail around the
British Isles in September. Trips with two other vessels have
also been suspended, though its business shipping goods between
Norwegian ports will continue.
Norwegian police told Reuters they would investigate whether
any laws had been broken.
Four of the MS Roald Amundsen's crew members were
hospitalised on Friday when the ship arrived at Tromsoe, and
later diagnosed with COVID-19. Tests showed another 32 of the
158 staff were also infected.
Among the infected crew, 32 were from the Philippines while
the rest were of Norwegian, French and German nationality. The
foreign crew had been tested for the coronavirus before leaving
their home countries but did not quarantine before starting work
on the ship, the company said.
Passengers were allowed to disembark before anyone had been
diagnosed, triggering a complex operation to locate them.
So far, five of the combined 387 passengers travelling on
the ship on two separate cruises since July 17 have been found
to carry the virus, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and
the Tromsoe municipality said.
(Editing by Gwladys Fouche, Kirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)