No fewer that 800 passengers on Carnival Australia’s Majestic Princess cruise ship have tested positive to COVID-19.
New South Wales health authorities rated the outbreak’s risk level at Tier 3, indicating a high level of transmission after the ship docked in Sydney on Saturday.
The incident has sparked comparisons with a notorious 2020 outbreak onboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship. That outbreak, also in New South Wales, led to 914 infections and 28 deaths.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the authorities have created “regular protocols” in the wake of the Ruby Princess episode and that New South Wales Health would take the lead on determining how to get passengers off the Majestic Princess “on a case by case basis”.
She said federal border force officers will play a supplementary role to the state authorities.
Carnival Australia, which is a part of global leisure company Carnival Corporation, said COVID-positive passengers were isolating onboard and being cared for by medical staff.
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