Coronavirus MV Mahabahu 1
A view of MV Mahabahu on the Brahmaputra at Neematighat. Image credit - Northeast Now

The 22 foreign tourists, who were quarantined onboard cruise ship MV Mahabahu off Nimatighat in Jorhat since March 7, were flown to Kolkata on Saturday.

Jorhat deputy commissioner Roshni A Korati said none of them had been found to be affected by novel coronavirus or COVID-19 after the seven-day quarantine period.

The cruise ship reached Nimatighat here on March 7 from Guwahati.

Also read: Coronavirus scare: Cruise ship MV Mahabahu asked not to leave Jorhat

As a precautionary measure, the ship was asked by the Jorhat district administration to be anchored for seven days at a sandbar near Nimatighat after an American tourist, who earlier travelled on the same ship, had tested positive for COVID-19 in Bhutan on March 6.

The ship and the occupants were under the close watch of the administration with a local medical team visiting each day to take stock of the health conditions of the people onboard.

Korati said all the foreign tourists are expected to fly out to their respective countries from Kolkata.

She said the cruise ship with all 34 crew members, who were also not found to be affected, left Nimatighat and sailed towards Subansiri Ghat in Lakhimpur district.

The Jorhat deputy commissioner further informed that in the past two days the driver, who brought the US tourist to the Thengal Manor resort from the Jorhat Airport on February 22 and again dropped him at Nimatighat the following day, was traced and was tested for COVID-19.

But the driver’s medical test report was found to be negative.

On March 7, the Jorhat district administration swung into action by sending a medical team from Jorhat Medical College and Hospital to MV Mahabahu Brahmaputra to carry out health check-up of all the people on board and no symptoms of coronavirus were found.

Smita Bhattacharyya is Northeast Now Correspondent in Jorhat. She can be reached at: [email protected]