At least 80 passengers and crew members of an Australian liner, anchored for several days off Montevideo, are contaminated with Covid-19, according to the results of tests carried out by the local health authorities made public on Monday. The Greg Mortimer , flying the flag of the Bahamas and carrying some 200 passengers and crew members, has been stranded about twenty kilometers off the port of the Uruguayan capital for more than a week. The Uruguayan authorities, who closed their borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic, denied the ship the right to berth.
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Australian cruise lines owner Aurora Expeditions says tests were carried out on board by local health officials on Sunday. For the time being, "81 passengers and crew members have tested positive" and "90 test results are still pending" . The results should be known within "12 to 24 hours," the company said in a statement. In addition, "45 passengers and crew members were tested negative," according to the same source. The Uruguayan Ministry of Health had previously announced that "at least 60 passengers" among the approximately 200 people on board were infected. Six “life-threatening” people were authorized to disembark and were hospitalized. According to local press, these are three Australians, two Filipinos and a Briton. The rest of the crew and passengers, mostly Australians, New Zealanders and British, are confined to the ship, according to the Uruguayan Ministry of Health.
"There is a relatively high percentage of people infected, but only six required transfer to hospitals in Montevideo because their lives were in danger," Uruguayan Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi told local television on Sunday. Channel 10. For the rest of the people who remained on board and "who are not carriers of the coronavirus, are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms" , the government is studying the possibility of setting up a "humanitarian corridor" allowing them to reach an airplane bound for Australia, he continued. "We are in contact with the Australian government to try to ensure that this flight can take place as quickly as possible, " said Ernesto Talvi.
On Sunday, around twenty doctors and laboratory technicians were dispatched to the ship to carry out the tests and provide assistance to the sick. Dr Sebastian Yancev, one of the doctors on board, said the high rate of contamination may have been caused by the first steps taken on board the ship, including the placement in isolation of groups of people, some of whom may be asymptomatic .
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"When we opened the cabin doors, our first surprise was to find people who were negative with patients who turned out to be positive," the doctor said. May have taken place in Ushuaia, a tourist port in the far south of Argentina, from where the ship set sail on March 15, for a cruise in Antarctica and on the British island of South Georgia. “The crew took a break in Ushuaia. They themselves think that the (contagion) could have taken place at that time, because in Ushuaia, there are a lot of transfers of passengers of many nationalities on different ships, "he added.
According to the Ministry of Health, the monitoring of those who remained on board will be done remotely. "Each patient has the phone number to call on their cell phone" in case of emergency, explained to the press Karina Rando, a doctor who is part of the ministry's coordination team. “There are a lot of patients over the age of 70, some of whom have other heart and lung diseases. These patients could be rewarded tomorrow, even if they are doing well today, ”she added.
