Coronavirus: Ruby Princess docks at Port Kembla, 200 crew displaying symptoms

The cruise ship at the centre of a criminal investigation, the Ruby Princess, has docked at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, where it may remain for up to 10 days.

The Ruby Princess cruise ship about to dock at Port Kembla on Monday. Picture: Today

The cruise ship at the centre of a criminal investigation, the Ruby Princess, has docked at Port Kembla, south of Sydney.

At least 200 of the 1040 crew members currently on board the vessel are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, while 16 crew members are confirmed to have returned positive results.

The ship has become the largest single source of COVID-19 cases in NSW — with more than 620 cases — and 11 associated deaths, about a third of the country’s total.

A criminal investigation announced on Sunday will determine whether Carnival Australian officials withheld critical information about suspected cases of COVID-19 on-board the cruise ship before almost 2700 passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney last month.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Monday confirmed the Ruby Princess had docked at Port Kembla to facilitate the easy removal of ill crew members and re-stocking of the ship’s supplies.

“The ship itself will dock at Port Kembla. The reason we need to dock it is because of the regular supplies that need to go on the ship,” Mr Fuller said in Sydney.

The Ruby Princess waits at sea off Waverley Cemetery in eastern Sydney. Picture: Matrix Media

“Taking sick crew off at sea is a complex and dangerous task. So the ship will be docked at port.. We have used Port Kembla extensively over the course of this operation to refuel and resupply ships.”

NSW Police on Monday released a statement saying the ship could remain at the NSW port for up to 10 days.

“It is believed the vessel may remain in place for up to 10 days, but the crew will not disembark unless in an emergency and approved by the NSW Police Commissioner,” it said. said. “She will also be refuelling and restocking provisions, as required for her home journey.

The berthing will be conducted under strict health and biosecurity guidelines and will not pose a risk to employees at the port or the broader community.”

A top Union official says the NSW government has a duty to allow sickened crew on the Ruby Princess to disembark and be treated in the state’s hospitals. Mich-Elle Myers, from the Maritime Union of Australia, said the 1040 crew members should undergo isolation in NSW, while the 200 that are showing symptoms of COVID-19 should be treated at hospitals in Sydney. Ms Myers said today would be a “test of our humanity” and urged NSW Health to set up a “makeshift hospital” at Port Kembla if they must.

“Crew get either isolated, medical treatment but all come off,” Ms Myers wrote on Twitter.

“Health crew should be flown home on chartered flights. She should have come into Sydney so this could have happened.”

The berthing of the ship will be conducted under strict health and bio security guidelines a and will not lose a risk to employees, police said in a statement.

Today is a test of our humanity. When #RubyPrincess berths in Port Kembla we must triage crew. Crew get either isolated, medical treatment but all come off. Ship then sterilised & minimum safe manning back to sail her. #covid19aus #nswpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/7fH74UFYkC

— Mich-Elle Myers (@MichMyersMUA) April 5, 2020

Aboard Ruby Princess of disease: cops called in

Health officials revealed on Sunday that a further four people linked to the vessel had died from coronavirus at the weekend, as Commissioner Fuller announced a formal criminal inquiry — to be headed by homicide detectives — into the circumstances surrounding the ship’s arrival.

The number of coronavirus ­fatalities associated with the Ruby Princess stands at 11, almost a third of the national death toll of 35. More than 600 infections across Australia have been traced to the ship, making it the single largest outbreak of the virus anywhere in the country.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who has faced sustained criticism over the cruise ship ­bungle, remained defiant on Sunday night when asked about his department’s actions leading up to the decision to allow the passengers to disembark on March 19.

“The community should be satisfied that we had the best of the best making the decision,” he told Sky News. “I’m sure when you go to a physician, you take their health advice. They made the decision on the basis of what they considered appropriate and … if you’ve got the best of the best making decisions, it’s a bit hard for us all to be challenging that decision.”

A fisherman set against the Ruby Princess carrying crew only onboard docks at Port Kembla, Wollongong, on Monday morning.

Mr Hazzard said he “would have preferred” the catastrophic health bungle had not happened but when asked whether he now conceded letting thousands of untested passengers into Sydney was wrong, he bluntly responded “no”.

Deaths linked to the cruise ship at the weekend were that of a 91-year-old man who died at Port Macquarie Base Hospital; an 80-year-old man and a 76-year-old man who died at Westmead Hospital; and a 78-year-old Queensland man.

In announcing the investi­gation, Mr Fuller said his own preliminary inquiries into phone call logs, email correspondence, radio transmissions and other documents had raised concerns about potentially misleading conduct.

He said the concerns revolved around the transparency of the messaging from the ship, and whether crew members or officials with Carnival Australia, the vessel’s owner, downplayed the ­potential for COVID-19 to be circulating among passengers when it arrived in Sydney.

Two sick crew members are brought ashore at Port Botany in Sydney. Picture: 7NEWS

“There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see as the benchmark for laws the state government and federal government have put in place for coronavirus,” Mr Fuller said.

The investigation is slated to be a protracted one: nearly 4000 passengers and crew were on-board at the time of Ruby Princess’s arrival, and almost 2700 of them got off the ship in Sydney. Investigators will now seek to interview most of the 4000 people. Central to the investigation will be the question of whether the ship’s crew or its operators complied with enhanced nat­ional protocols, signed off in March, which stated that ships must report undiagnosed respiratory illnesses that are clinically compatible with COVID-19. The criteria include fever, respiratory infection, coughing or a sore throat with or without a fever.

The Australian understands the investigation is also likely to canvass why only 13 swabs were provided to NSW Health officials for testing, when about 48 swabs had been taken of passengers.

When asked why those ­additional swabs were not provided, officials were told they had been destroyed.

“The ship took a lot more swabs, but only 13 were handed over,” a senior government official said.

Mr Fuller said multiple agencies would have their actions ­examined to determine whether “our national biosecurity laws or our state laws were broken”.

As he outlined a timeline of the Ruby Princess’s arrival, Mr Fuller noted his concerns with a 17-­minute phone call placed from the ship to NSW Ambulance the day before it docked.

Mr Fuller said the call was made by a Carnival Australia official who sought an ambulance transfer for two passengers.

At the time, the ship was rushing back to Sydney following an announcement by the federal government on March 16 that all ports would be shut to cruise liners, ­excluding those already heading to port.

An ambulance supervisor who was apprised of the call then escalated the matter because of the “terminology around the infectious nature of some of these passengers” and suspicions of COVID-19.

From there, a series of phone calls commenced between Ambulance NSW, the NSW Police Marine Area Command and the Port Authority of NSW, which manages the arrival of cruise liners into Sydney’s Circular Quay, among other ports.

Given suspicions that coronavirus might be on-board, numerous phone calls were made by the Port Authority to the ship seeking further information about the passengers’ conditions.

The Port Authority eventually stopped the ship from entering Sydney Harbour until further medical evidence could be ­provided.

“In each case, they were informed COVID-19 wasn’t an issue on the ship,” Mr Fuller said. “There appears to have been an exceptional amount of effort put in by Ports to determine the true nature of the conditions on board — it even delayed the vessel’s arrival until they were provided additional information.”

The Port Authority eventually reversed its decision, allowing the ship to dock after midnight on March 19.

This was preceded by a phone call from a senior Carnival Australia official, who told the Ports Authority the two patients requiring an ambulance transfer needed to be taken to hospital for a cardiac issue and lower back pain — not for COVID-19 symptoms.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance confirmed on Sunday that neither they nor their offices were consulted or informed about the decision-making that resulted in the ship being granted pratique.

A Carnival Australia spokesman said: “We have seen the Police Commissioner’s announcement. In addition to willingly ­participating in the investigation, Carnival Australia will vigorously respond to any allegations of which there must now be full disclosure and the basis for them.”

It is carrying 1040 crew members, 16 of whom have tested positive for the coronavirus; about 200 more are showing symptoms, police said.

Another two members of the crew were taken off the ship on Sunday and transferred to ­hospital.

Five other ships, owned by Royal Caribbean International, agreed to leave NSW territorial waters at the weekend.

The ships had been involved in a standoff with the NSW and commonwealth governments over whether they could be granted entry to the state.