Coronavirus: WA cruise passengers escape ship, now for the next ordeal

Western Australia’s cruise ship nightmare was nearing an end as hundreds of passengers were shifted into isolation.

West Australians leave the Vasco da Gama on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

Western Australia’s cruise ship nightmare is nearing an end after hundreds of passengers, some with COVID-19, were taken under police guard to hospitals, hotels or ferried to Perth’s former holiday island of Rottnest for enforced isolation on Monday.

Premier Mark McGowan said he had lost sleep over trying to deal with three cruise ships — the Magnifica, Artania and Vasco da Gama — arriving in Fremantle port within a week, all demanding help to deal with ill or COVID-19-infected passengers and Australian and foreign nationals demanding to be sent home.

“It has been a fast-moving and stressful situation,” he said.

Police were out in force about midday as 200 fit-looking West Australians walked off the Vasco da Gama under close escort.

They were herded towards ferries headed for Rottnest Island, 20km off Perth. No passengers are believed to have COVID-19 but they will spend two weeks in enforced quarantine.

The passengers will be held in former holiday units, all within walking distance of the beach, but nobody will be allowed to move around freely. “They will stay in their unit, sit in their courtyard but they will not be able to use the beach,” Mr McGowan said. Four medical staff will be stationed on the island.

About 700 Australian passengers from other states were transferred by coach to enforced isolation in Perth’s Duxton Hotel.

A few hours earlier, health officials and Australian medical assistance teams were seen transferring 29 infected passengers from another ship, the German-owned Artania, in Fre­mantle. They were driven to Joondalup Health Campus, a public hospital with a private wing.

The 29 passengers and crew had tested positive to the virus out of 46 tested. Another 11 Artania passengers are already in Perth hospitals, with three patients — all COVID-19-positive — in critical conditions.

Overnight on Sunday, 840 German passengers from the Artania were put on four chartered flights to Frankfurt, while 500 crew members remained on board.

The WA government had another influx of passengers, this time on a Qatar flight containing hundreds of Australians coming off Italian cruise ships. It arrived in Perth later on Monday, and all passengers were sent to hotels to sit out their quarantine.