CRUISE SHIP DOCS IN SYDNEY WITH 800 COVID CASES
A cruise ship with 800 positive Covid cases has docked in Sydney.
Halfway through a 12-day voyage, crew members noticed an outbreak of cases. At the time it docked in the Australian city, the cruise ship had 4 600 passengers and crew on board.
Mass testing was conducted among 3 300 of the passengers on board The Majestic Princess. Around 800 of them tested positive for Covid as well as a small number of crew.
During a media briefing on Saturday, Carnival Australia president Marguerite Fitzgerald told reporters that guests who tested positive were separated from those that didn’t test positive.
“All positive cases were mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic, and those guests were isolated in their staterooms and then separated from non-impacted guests.”
Once the ship docked in Sydney, cruise operators escorted those infected off the ship. They were advised to complete a five-day isolation period.
CNN reports that Australia has seen an uptick in Covid cases recently, leading to more caution from within the government. The New South Wales Ministry of Health has recorded 19,800 new cases of Covid and 22 deaths in the past week.
Once sanitised, The Majestic Princess was off on her next voyage.
Image credit: The Majestic Princess