At least 36 crew members from a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Hurtigruten, the company that owns the ship. Several passengers have also tested positive in what the cruise line describes as an
Four patients were in the northern Norwegian city of Tromso where the ship is now docked.
More than in the country have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University. Hurtigruten had previously canceled because of the pandemic, and has now suspended all cruises aboard the Amundsen and two other vessels.
On its most , the ship traveled up Norway's fjord-lined coast towards the Arctic island of Svalbard. The route has raised concerns about infections off the ship, as the Associated Press reports:
"Health authorities fear the ship also could have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along Norway's western coast ... since the cruise line often acts like a local ferry, traveling from port to port along Norway's western coast, the virus may not have been contained onboard. Some passengers disembarked along the route and may have spread the virus to their local communities."
Norwegian authorities are reportedly who had left the ship.
"We are working hard to contain this outbreak in order to limit the spread in the general population," Tromso health official Kathrine Kristoffersen told reporters.
"We have made mistakes," Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam said in a statement. "A preliminary evaluation shows that there has been a failure in several of our internal procedures."
One hundred-sixty were on board the 530-passenger capacity ship. Hurtigruten's website highlights , including UV-light disinfection and social-distancing guidelines.
But cruise ships have become coronavirus .
In May, a congressional investigation was opened into after more dozens of deaths and more than 1,500 COVID-19 infections aboard its ships. Fears of transmission from outbreaks onboard cruise ships also left an estimated for extended periods, as the Miami Heraldreported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has through the end of September.
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