Coronavirus: COVID-19 military mission to end cruise drama

An operation is being planned to helicopter doctors on to eight cruise ships off the NSW coast to test more than 8000 passengers.

The Ruby Princess cruise ship off the coast of Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Adam Yip

A military-style operation is being planned to helicopter doctors on to eight cruise ships stranded off the NSW coast to test more than 8000 people in a bid to end a standoff that police fear could overwhelm Sydney’s intensive care units.

With the impasse between the owners of the cruise ships — who are refusing orders to leave Australian waters — and NSW police entering its third week, police plan to call on military support to land doctors on each vessel to independently test up to 8615 people, most of whom are believed to be crew members.

NSW Police Commissioner ­Michael Fuller said the tests would determine the extent of COVID-19 outbreaks on each ship. He said decision-makers lacked an ­accurate picture of the spread of infections. It is understood ships would be forced to leave once those found to be ­infected had been extracted.

“It would be an extremely large operation,” Mr Fuller said on Wednesday. “It would involve the Department of Defence, we would need medical support. If we had to extract 250 or 350 patients that needed a high level of care, we would need to look at portable hospitals, portable triaging, and that’s before you even think about the logistics and security of moving 250 or 350 people.”

The operation has been developed as Carnival Australia and Royal Caribbean International have stood firm against a March 16 order from the federal government stating that cruise ships are banned from entering Australian ports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The companies have ­appealed against the order to Australian Border Force commissioner Michael Outram. A decision is expected within days.

In Western Australia, German-owned cruise ship Artania has similarly refused to leave Fremantle port since arriving on March 25. Forty-one of its passengers and crew have been transferred to Perth hospitals, with some remaining in critical condition. Its operators have asked Australian Border Force if it can remain in place until mid-April.

The ships anchored off the NSW coast are the Ruby Princess, Pacific Explorer and ­Carnival Splendour, owned by Carnival Australia, along with the Ovation of the Seas, Spectrum of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas, ­Celebrity Solstice and Voyager of the Seas, owned by Royal Carib­bean International. Each vessel is carrying between 800 and 1300 people.

 

Aside from invoking maritime obligations, the cruise ship operators have been pleading for passengers and crew to be let off the ships on humanitarian grounds so they can be quarantined or ­returned home on airlines. Authorities have so far agreed to medivac the seriously ill and cases of exceptional circumstance. Fourteen people have been taken off over the past week.

Mr Fuller said the 8615 people aboard the ships were mainly ­residents of Southeast Asia, the US and Canada. Australians on board the vessels have been allowed off.

Cruise ships account for the highest proportion of coronavirus cases out of any cluster in NSW. About 324 cases have been traced back to four ships anchored off the coast out of the 2182 total confirmed infections.

Carnival Australia president Sture Myrmell said on Wednesday it would be unsafe for the ships to sail away. The company has ­argued that it is entitled to dock because it is domiciled in Sydney. Police have so far rejected this ­argument.

“While illness on board has been reduced due to strong health management, the ship needs to ­remain within reach of Australia to access healthcare services if an urgent need arises,” Mr Myrmell said. Mr Fuller argues that keeping the ships offshore would only ­increase the likelihood of further medical evacuations as the virus continues to spread.

The alternative — releasing everyone into quarantine — would pit the needs of the cruise operators against those of the state’s healthcare resources: if 8615 people were permitted to disembark and go into isolation, cases of COVID-19 could increase over their 14 days in lockdown as symptoms begin to manifest.

Mr Fuller said treating those people would deplete the NSW health system, which had a limited number of intensive care beds.

“These cruise ships left ports with people in them knowing that coronavirus was active, knowing that prime ministers and premiers had started to warn people — they set sail knowing this risk,” he said.

Mr Fuller said that, with thousands of people stranded, even a conservative percentage of infected crew members would amount to hundreds of people. The plan to deploy medical teams was being considered with a view to having an accurate assessment of how much this crisis could strain intensive care units.

“We cannot check or verify any of the information being provided to us and it’s in the interests of the people of NSW that we know the truth before I accept any liability that may have a negative impact on our community,” he said.

The cruise ships have offered a compromise in discussions with police.

They want to allow thousands of people to disembark and be placed into isolation at Sydney hotels, which taxpayers would have to pay for, much like airline passengers have been doing on ­arrival from overseas.

Under another option, people would disembark and be taken straight to airports for flights to their country of origin. Neither of these ideas is attractive to police because once people are on NSW soil they become the state’s responsibility.

“When we get 8615 people on to the shores of NSW, if 10, 15, 20 per cent require intensive care over the next 10 to 14 days, it would decimate our health system,” he said.

Mr Fuller said Royal Caribbean had been easier to work with during the negotiations.

“We have not seen the same level of co-operation (with Carnival),” he said. “Carnival feels as though they have a right to stay, where Royal Caribbean accepts that they need to leave.”

Additional reporting: Victoria Laurie