Cruise ship Cordelia, where 66 of the about 2,000 people on board tested positive for COVID-19, has been sent back to Mumbai from Goa with all passengers after some of the infected persons allegedly refused to get admitted to a medical facility in the coastal State, officials said on Tuesday.
The ship was turned back at 11.30 p.m. on Monday when 27 passengers, who had tested positive and stayed on board, allegedly refused to disembark. They were reportedly passengers with families and their kin had tested negative.
“The ship with all its passengers had to be sent back after few of those who had tested positive refused to get admitted in a COVID-19 facility in Goa. Only six crew members who had tested positive were disembarked from the ship which docked at Mormugao,” said an official from a shipping services company.
The official said that in view of a steep rise in cases across the State, the South Goa District Administration ordered the entire ship along with all passengers be sent back to Mumbai with COVID-19 positive passengers isolated from the others.
Much hue and cry was witnessed on the cruise ship after passengers who had tested negative and had been refused permission to land vehemently protested against the decision of the South Goa district authorities.
The ship had been docked at the Mormugao cruise terminal in South Goa for more than 48 hours since its arrival from Mumbai after one of the ship’s crew tested positive, leading to authorities mandating tests for all passengers on board.
Goa Health Minister Viswajit Rane had earlier said that the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) staff and respective collectors would decide whether or not to allow the disembarking of passengers from the ship.
Meanwhile, the company (which operates the Cordelia cruise) has issued a statement informing that they were suspending their sailing tours on January 3 and January 5 in view of the rising COVID-19 cases.
The poll-bound coastal State had reported 631 fresh cases on Tuesday but no fatalities, taking the total active case tally to 2,240. However, the number of hospitalisations thus far has mercifully remained low.
Following a steep rise in COVID-19 cases in poll-bound Goa during the year end festivities, the State government on Monday had finally imposed a night curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.