Coronavirus NSW: 24 Ruby Princess passengers had fever on board, inquiry told

The Ruby Princess submitted an updated human health report seven hours before the ship berthed in Sydney, showing the number of sick people onboard was increasing. 

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The Ruby Princess submitted an updated human health report seven hours before the ship berthed in Sydney, showing the number of sick people onboard was increasing.

The updated health report has been tendered to a powerful probe into the handling of the vessel, showing the ship reported 128 people had become ill or shown signs of illness in the last 14 days.

The most recent health report referenced was submitted through a federal government reporting system at 7.21pm on March 18 – the night before almost 2,600 passengers were allowed to disembark.

The report showed 24 people had a fever. The previous report, submitted at 8.54am on March 18, showed 110 people onboard were sick or showed signs of sickness, with 17 displaying a fever.

Lawyers for Carnival Cruises told the inquiry they wished to probe NSW Health Epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler over whether she had access to the updated information.

“What we wish to explore with Ms Ressler was that it appears … (she) would have had access to this information,” David McClure SC said.

The federal Agriculture Department supplied documents to a senate probe into the COVID-19 response on Tuesday, showing the ship reported 53 sick people onboard on March 16.

That number was updated on the morning of March 18, and again at 7.21pm that night.In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesman for Princess Cruises said the information “shows that the ship had continued to update the official MARS health status of the ship”.

“It also shows that an increase in the number of passengers and crew who were ill had been reported to the official human health reporting mechanism,” the statement said.

Previously, the NSW special commission of inquiry heard the ship’s doctor, Ilse von Watzdorf, forgot to send the final health report before passengers disembarked the ship.

"I’ll send it now, sorry I forgot. That last one was from the morning (of March 18), it was so crazy," Dr von Watzdorf told NSW Health authorities on March 20.

The inquiry has previously heard there were additional people swabbed for COVID-19, who then returned positive results, who did not appear on the last health report seen by Health authorities on March 19.

Originally published as Coronavirus NSW: 24 Ruby Princess passengers had fever on board, inquiry told

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