There are outbreaks on international cruises where people do not keep physical detachment and leisure activities lead to greater relaxation.
During much of the first year of the pandemic (2020), cruise ships had to stop their activities around the world and now, due to the new waves of coronavirus, they are having problems operating again.
This Monday it was reported that the five cruise ships that are currently operating on the Brazilian coast have registered cases of COVID-19 among their crew and passengers, and three have already been imposed new sanitary restrictions, reported the National Health Surveillance Agency ( Anvisa) from Brazil.
Of the three to whom restrictions were imposed, two were declared at level 4 of epidemiological severity, that is, when it was already found that transmission on board is community and high, so they have to suspend operations, and the third at level 3, in which there are infections and transmission but not at worrying levels.
The regulatory body also issued a statement on Saturday, which it reiterated on Sunday, advising all passengers who purchased tickets for cruises in the new season to cancel or postpone trips and to desist from boarding.
The agency explained that it advises against boarding due to the “vertiginous” increase in COVID-19 cases in vessels, it collects Eph.
“The recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk of damage to the health of passengers and the uncertainty of operations at this time,” clarified Anvisa, admitting that it can suspend trips and force ships that have already set sail to return to port.
“All research shows that the Sars-Cov-2 virus spreads easily between people close to them on board ships and that the possibility of contracting covid on cruise ships is high,” he concludes.
Brazil, one of the three countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic along with the United States and India, accumulates about 620,000 deaths and 22.3 million cases of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people traveling on a cruise ship in Indian waters were prevented from disembarking after a Covid-19 outbreak on board, authorities reported Monday.
The “Empress” sailed from Bombay to the former Portuguese colony of Goa, but the port authorities detained it on Sunday near its destination, in the city of Vasco, after detecting infections.
At least 66 people on board are infected with the virus, he told the AFP Eugene D’Souza, a pathologist at Victor Hospital. Those infected will have to quarantine or be hospitalized, he added.
In Colombia, due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the world, travelers over 18 years of age who arrive in the country on cruise ships must have at least one dose of the vaccine and present a negative PCR test, reported last week the Ministry of Health.
The measure was taken “considering the acceleration of cases” due to the spread of the omicron variant, which has caused outbreaks on international cruise ships where people do not keep physical distance and leisure activities give rise to greater relaxation of protection.
Forced disembarkation
Some 3,000 passengers, mostly Germans, saw their cruise to the Canary Islands interrupted on Monday after a Covid-19 outbreak forced them to disembark in Lisbon, according to Portuguese authorities.
The first passengers to test positive for the German-made “AIDAnova” were transferred to a bus bound for Lisbon airport before dawn, said the head of Lisbon’s maritime police, Diogo Vieira Branco.
The rest of the passengers will be transferred at the end of the afternoon, he added.
The cruise ship, with 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew members (it has a capacity of 5,200 people), docked in Lisbon after arriving from the port of La Coruña, in northwestern Spain.
It was scheduled to reach the Spanish Canary Islands after passing through the Portuguese island of Madeira.
After the first cases of contagion appeared on Wednesday, the operator AIDA Cruises Sunday decided to suspend the trip for “the safety and health of its guests and the crew,” a spokesman told AFP.
On Monday, the ship registered 68 positive cases, 60 of them among crew personnel.
According to the head of the Lisbon maritime police, infected people are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Most are quarantining hotels in Lisbon, he explained. (I)
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