After the norovirus outbreak identified on board the ship Rotterdam during the New Year's Eve cruise departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which has been notified to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and which affected 85 out of the 2,593 passengers and nine of the 1,005 crew members, on another ship of the Holland America Line cruise line a spread of the virus has occurred. Yesterday, in fact, in the port of Hong Kong has arrived the Westerdam which on Friday had notified the port health section of the Centre for Hong Kong Health Protection that some passengers and members of the crew were suspected of having contracted the Norovirus. CHP staff, including medical and nursing staff, are boarded the cruise ship to conduct investigations epidemiological and environmental assessments, as well as for inspect the environment and assess food hygiene. In addition, the CHP has set up a temporary medical post at the Terminal Kai Tak Cruises to Carry Out Health Assessments of passengers and has instructed the cruise line to carry out thorough cleaning and disinfection of the ship after the disembarkation of the passengers that took place yesterday.

The epidemiological investigation identified 76 individuals (38 men and 38 women, aged between 24 and 92 years) who have developed symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, including vomiting, diarrhea and fever. Of these, 65 were passengers and the remaining 11 crew members. The CHP said the first two passengers who fell ill boarded the ship from cruise to Japan on February 15 and developed symptoms same day. Subsequently, other individuals were affected. The vast majority of patients experienced mild symptoms and yesterday, when the ship arrived in Hong Kong, only three individuals still had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. After the cruise ship was subjected to thorough environmental cleaning and disinfection and that the hygienic conditions on board were considered satisfactory, the passengers and crew are allowed to board and In the evening, the ship left Hong Kong for the Philippines.

During the cruise, the Westerdam made a stopover in several ports in Japan, Busan in Korea and Shanghai in China.