Cruise ship sails back to Mumbai with all passengers as Covid-19 infected patients refuse to get down at Goa

Panaji, Jan 04: The Cordelia cruise ship, where 66 of the over 2,000 people on board tested positive for coronavirus, has been sent back to Mumbai from a port in Goa with all the passengers as some of the infected passengers refused to leave the cruise ship, for quarantine at a medical facility in the coastal state, an official from a shipping agency said on Tuesday.

The infected passengers would be isolated on the ship, he said. All the passengers were tested after a crew member was found positive on Sunday, an official said.

The ship was sent back to Mumbai - from where it had set sail for a New Year party - at 11.30 pm yesterday after 27 positive passengers refused to disembark the cruise ship, shipping firm JM Baxi and Co operations manager Govind Pernulkar told PTI.

Only six crew members out of the total 66 who had tested positive were disembarked in Goa, he said.

The ship is expected to reach Mumbai by Tuesday afternoon, he added.

As many as 66 of the over 2,000 people on board the Cordelia cruise ship, which came to Goa from Mumbai, have tested positive for COVID-19, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Monday.

The cruise liner, where the NCB busted a high-profile rave party in October last year, was carrying hordes of New Year revellers.

A medical team in PPE kits came on board to conduct RT-PCR tests of the passengers and crew members, and the sample testing process continued till Monday afternoon.

The testing of those on board the vessel was necessitated after a crew member was found infected with the coronavirus on Sunday, an official said.

Officials had instructed that no one should disembark from the ship till the result of the RT-PCR tests was declared

The liner is anchored close to Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) cruise terminal.

In the afternoon, Rane tweeted, "Out of 2000 samples tested from Cordelia cruise ship, 66 passengers tested positive for #COVID19. Respective collectors and MPT staff have been informed. The authorities will decide whether to allow disembarking of passengers from the ship." The ship, operated by a private firm, had arrived at Mormugao Port Trust in Goa on Sunday.

A day ago, Goa had reported 388 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 1,81,570, while one death raised the toll to 3,523, as per official data.