BANGKOK (REUTERS) – Thailand has refused permission for passengers from Holland America’s cruise ship MS Westerdam to disembark, its health minister said on Tuesday (Feb 11), the latest country to turn it away amid fears of the spreading coronavirus.

The company, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp, had said on Monday that passengers would disembark in Bangkok on Feb 13 and that there was no reason to believe anybody aboard had the virus.

“I have issued orders. Permission to disembark refused,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a Facebook post.

The virus has killed more than 1,000 people and infected more than 42,000, chiefly in mainland China. 

China on Tuesday reported 108 new coronavirus deaths, a daily record, bringing the total number of people killed in the country to 1,016. 

There are 319 cases in 24 other countries and territories, according to WHO and Chinese health officials. So far only two deaths have been reported outside mainland China, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Thailand’s refusal to grant disembarkation to the Holland America comes as another cruise ship in Japan remains docked in the port of Yokohama. 

Passenger tests aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Monday, confirmed at least 65 more cases of coronavirus, taking the tally of those infected on board to 135 people. 

The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus.

About 3,700 people are aboard the ship, which usually has a crew of 1,100 and a passenger capacity of 2,670.

Passengers have been allowed on decks in shifts to get fresh air and encouraged to regularly take their temperature.

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