Source: Global Times New Media
According to CNN (CNN) reported on the 13th, a cruise ship with 4,600 people ended a 12-day voyage last Saturday and arrived at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia, where at least 800 people tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Marguerite Fitzgerald, president of Carnival Australia, the parent company of the cruise, said at a news conference last Saturday that the cruise ship, called the Princess of the Glory, had detected cases of coronavirus during the voyage.
According to Australia's Ninth News Network, the ship was carrying 3,300 passengers and 1,300 staff at the time.
Fitzgerald said that after mass testing of 3,300 passengers, about 800 people tested positive for the new coronavirus. In addition, a small number of staff members tested positive.
"All positive cases had only mild symptoms or no symptoms, and these guests were isolated in their cabins, separated from uninfected guests." Briana Latter, a representative of the cruise ship's parent company, told CNN that she added that the outbreak on the cruise "reflects increased community transmission in Australia." Australia has seen a recent increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, with the NSW Department of Health recording 19,800 confirmed cases and 22 deaths in the past week.
A NSW Health statement said those passengers who tested negative were allowed to disembark. "Carnival Cruises has notified NSW Health that they are helping positive passengers make safe follow-up transfer arrangements," the statement added.
Australia's Ninth News Network reported that cruise operators have escorted positive passengers off the ship and advised them to complete a 5-day quarantine period. The Princess has now left Sydney Harbour and will travel to Melbourne and Tasmania.
Fitzgerald said in a later statement that Carnival Cruises had made more than 50 international and domestic voyages and that "the vast majority of more than 100,000 passengers were unaffected by the coronavirus." However, with the emergence of the coronavirus in the community, we have seen an increase in the number of positive cases in the last three voyages. ”
Fitzgerald also said the company has been implementing "the most meticulous and stringent measures that go far beyond current guidelines," including requiring 95 percent of guests over the age of 12 to be vaccinated and testing staff and passengers for coronavirus before boarding.
The report pointed out that the "Shengshi Princess" is not the first cruise ship on the Carnival Cruise Line to break out of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. At least three other cruise ships in the company's Princess fleet — the Ruby Princess, Diamond Princess and Grand Princess — had outbreaks early in the pandemic.
The outbreak of the "Princess of the Glory" is the worst cruise ship outbreak since the outbreak of the "Ruby Princess" in early 2020. In March 2020, the "Ruby Princess" outbreak of new coronary pneumonia caused more than 900 confirmed cases and 28 deaths.