PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A 65-year-old British female passenger on board a cruise ship, docked at a port in southeast Cambodia's Kampong Cham province, was tested positive for COVID-19, Cambodia's Health Minister Mam Bunheng announced on Tuesday.
The river ship, named Viking Cruise Journey, departed My Tho Port in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam on March 5 and arrived in Phnom Penh on March 7 before returning to a port in Kampong Cham province.
"According to the results of the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia, the 65-year-old British woman was positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday afternoon," he said at a press conference in Phnom Penh.
Bunheng said the British woman was tested after the ship operator reported that she sat next to a COVID-19-infected Vietnamese man when she flew from London to Hanoi on March 2 before traveling by ship from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia.
He said four of her close friends, who were on board the same flight and the same cruise vessel, were tested negative for the virus.
"Currently, the patient is kept in an isolation room at the Kampong Cham provincial hospital for treatment and health surveillance," the minister said, adding that her health is in stable condition.
He added that a total of 64 people, including 30 passengers and 34 crew, were not allowed to disembark the ship and their samples will be taken for tests at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia.
The river ship operated between Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia only.
It was the third confirmed case of COVID-19 in Cambodia.
