Crew member on Mumbai-Goa cruise liner tests COVID-19 positive, over 2,000 passengers stuck on vessel
About 2,000 passengers aboard a Mumbai-Goa cruise ship were not allowed to disembark after a crew member tested positive for coronavirus. All passengers and crew are now being tested for COVID-19.
Officials have instructed that no one should leave the ship, Cordelia Cruises’ Empress, until the results of RT-PCR tests are announced. The crew member infected with COVID-19 is under isolation on board.
Medical team members wore personal protective equipment to conduct RT-PCT tests on 2,017 passengers and crew.
“After testing passengers for COVID-19, some tested positive,” said Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
“We have not allowed them to dock the ship. They have a tie-up with a private hospital for COVID-19 testing, and we’ve told them to test all passengers for COVID-19 before they leave the ship.”
The Mumbai Port Trust refused to allow the ship to dock in Goa. Currently, the cruise is near the Mormugao Port cruise terminal.
It is noteworthy that only one crew member tested positive in an antigen test, which is why all others are being tested as a precaution.
Prior to allowing passengers to alight, the operators of this cruise ship were asked to conduct COVID-19 tests on each passenger through the Salgaonkar Medical Research Centre (SMRC) Hospital.
On Sunday, Dr Eugene D’Souza, a pathologist at Victor Hospital, the private hospital carrying out the tests, told The Times of India that the process began at around 9:30 pm.
Till 11:30 pm, 500 samples had been collected.
Port trust officials said all passengers can disembark after they have been tested.
“All the passengers are double-vaccinated. The ship doctor had tested a crew member who had a fever for a day. The vessel was kept outside the port limits while authorities were informed,” they said.
Health Minister Rane said international flights landing in Goa every day carry 4,000 passengers and that each flight has COVID-19 positive passengers. “We must be serious about following COVID-19 protocol.”
Goa will set up a genome sequencing machine in the next 15 days to avoid delays in testing suspected Omicron variants, which are currently sent to the Pune-based NIV, said Rane.
