Corona outbreaks occur again and again on cruise ships. A particularly large number of people are now becoming infected on a luxury liner off the coast of Australia. They must isolate themselves in their cabins until the ship docks in Sydney.
Hundreds of people have reportedly contracted the coronavirus on a cruise ship in Australia. The broadcaster 9News spoke of 800 infected passengers and crew members on the “Majestic Princess”. The shipping company Princess Cruises confirmed the virus outbreak without initially giving exact numbers. “The guests have only mild symptoms or are asymptomatic and they isolate themselves in their cabins,” Australian media quoted a spokesman for the shipping company as saying. All unaffected passengers also wear masks for protection. The crew had been instructed to put on full protective gear.
The luxury liner is scheduled to dock in Sydney early Saturday morning. “Even though the government has said we need to coexist with Covid, it’s still a worrying thought that tomorrow 800 people who tested positive for the coronavirus will go ashore,” said a reporter from 9News. There are 4600 people on the ship. Private means of transport had been organized in Sydney for the infected people so that they could isolate themselves quickly, it said.
It is not the first case of a major corona outbreak on a cruise ship off Australia’s coast. In July, at least 100 passengers on the Pacific Explorer ship were infected with Sars-CoV-2. It was previously sailing off the Queensland coast for nine days. Those who tested positive also had to isolate themselves in their cabins. The doors of those affected were also marked in red during the journey.
The cruise sector had come to a standstill since 2020 due to the corona pandemic. Australia responded to the virus with extremely strict rules. In Melbourne, for example, one of the world’s longest lockdowns was imposed: there were strict exit restrictions for a total of 262 days for the people in the megacity.