SANTIAGO: Chile has quarantined more than 1,300 people aboard two cruise ships after an elderly Briton aboard one of them tested positive for the coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Saturday (Sunday in Manila). Both ships are cruising the Chilean fjords in Patagonia. The 85-year-old man showed symptoms of the virus after getting off the Silver Explorer ship in the far southern port of Caleta Tortel, 2,400 kilometers from Santiago. The man was later transferred to a hospital in the city of Coyhaique where he tested positive for the virus. Health Minister Jaime Manalich told a press conference that the ship is in quarantine off the port of Castro. He added that the British citizen is in good condition but has tested positive for coronavirus. The other ship, the Azmara Pursuit — with 665 passengers and nearly 400 crew — had earlier crossed into Chilean waters from the southern Argentine port of Ushuaia. Manalich said it was currently near the port of Chacabuco after authorities banned it from landing passengers there, on grounds that it was carrying suspected cases of the coronavirus.AFP
