SA Health confirms Grand Princess cruise ship Covid, gastro outbreaks
A passenger has detailed the situation on-board as authorities confirm Covid and gastro outbreaks have been reported.
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A cruise ship bound for Adelaide is in the midst of twin Covid-19 and gastro outbreaks, SA Health has confirmed.
It comes as a passenger aboard Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess reveals the situation aboard the ship, which is due to return to Adelaide from Queensland on Monday.
The 57-year-old who asked to remain anonymous said they believed several hundred people could be affected.
“They’ve stepped up the whole sanitisation, wash your hands,” the passenger said.
“But we’ve just got people coughing and sneezing all over the place.”
They said affected passengers had been contained to their cabins and provided room service while other guests had been given $25 vouchers to spend at stopovers to encourage them to leave the ship during deep cleans.
A spokesman for Princess Cruises also confirmed a number of passengers had reported to the ship’s medical centre with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms.
But they said most guests were unaffected.
“We proactively launched a comprehensive disinfection program developed in co-ordination with international health authorities to prevent further spread,” the spokesman said.
“As an extra precaution, we have arranged for the ship to undergo an additional disinfection today prior to the embarkation of the next voyage.”
The cruise ship, with a guest capacity of 2600 and 1,150 staff, stopped at Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne on its 18 day round trip from Port Adelaide.
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