A cruise ship carrying an estimated 800 Covid-19 cases has docked in Sydney after finishing a two-week tour of New Zealand.
The Majestic Princess cruise liner docked in Sydney this morning with hundreds infected after departing from the same port two weeks ago, Nine News reports.
The ship had just finished a 12-day tour of New Zealand - having dropped anchor in ports around Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Bay of Islands, and Fiordland National Park.
In a joint statement, the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora told 1News that health officials were aware of cases onboard when the ship visited Auckland on Tuesday.
"The last port visited in New Zealand was Auckland on 8 November when 180 cases on board were reported before the ship departed for Australia," it said.
The operator of the ship, Princess Cruises, said that the number of cases was "reflective of the increase in community transmission" in Australia.
“We too have seen more guests test positive for Covid-19 on the current voyage of Majestic Princess,” the company said in a statement.
“These guests are mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic and are isolating in their staterooms."
In their statement, Kiwi health authorities reiterated the requirement for cases onboard cruise ships to isolate if they test positive for Covid-19.
"While in New Zealand Covid cases on the ship were managed on-board by the ship’s medical team and the situation monitored on shore by local public health staff.
"There has been considerable consultation between the National Public Health Service and the cruise companies ahead of this cruise season to ensure that cruise liners are well prepared and have robust protocols in place for managing Covid-19 and minimising any public health risk to the local community."
It added there was a legal requirement for captains to show "they are taking the necessary isolation and quarantine action including keeping anyone who is sick or who has tested positive for Covid-19 in isolation."
Covid risks posed by cruise liners
Up to 800 were infected, but other passengers insists they felt safe thanks to the protocols. (Source: 1News)
Several cruise liners have reported Covid-19 outbreaks onboard since ships were allowed to tour the country again after border restrictions were lifted.
Two weeks ago, Covid Response Minister Ayesha Verrall responded to 130 cases reported on another cruise liner that was one of the first to visit New Zealand.
"There is going to be a risk that we have to accept while we have our borders open - both air travel, cruise ships, the works," she told RNZ.
In late October, Verrall reiterated that New Zealand had a highly vaccinated population alongside its open border. She also stated that health officials had plans tackling cruise ships with "high numbers of Covid cases on board".
"The process for the management of cruise ships has been worked over thoroughly between health officials, and I think they've come up with a process that can be implemented and is alert to when there are high numbers of Covid cases on board."
At the time, Otago University epidemiologist Michael Baker said cruise ships were an environment that had a heightened risk of transmission.
"Even prior to Covid-19, cruise ships were notorious for outbreaks of infectious disease," he told the Science Media Centre in October.
"Much of this heightened risk is from having thousands of people spending days at a time living in a densely packed confined environment with many shared facilities where gastroenteritis and respiratory infections can spread easily.
"The generally older demographic of cruise ship passengers makes them more vulnerable to infection and becoming seriously ill."
SHARE ME