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Mumbai-Goa cruise ship turns COVID hotspot, 66 passengers onboard test positive

The cruise had arrived in Goa from Mumbai and was carrying a large crowd of passengers who came to celebrate the New Year amid the Omicron threat.

Mumbai-Goa cruise ship turns COVID hotspot, 66 passengers onboard test positive-dnm
Author
Panaji, First Published Jan 3, 2022, 8:06 PM IST

As many as 66 people of the over 2,000 people on board a Mumbai-Goa cruise ship have tested positive for Covid-19. In a tweet, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said some 2,000 samples were tested on board the cruise ship, Cordelia.

The cruise had arrived in Goa from Mumbai and was carrying a large crowd of passengers who came to celebrate the New Year amid the Omicron threat.

Passengers have been told to stay put for now. A decision would be taken later whether they would be allowed to leave the ship, the Health Minister said.

“Out of 2,000 samples tested from Cordelia cruise ship, 66 passengers tested positive for COVID-19... The authorities will decide whether to allow disembarking of passengers from the ship,” Rane tweeted.

On Sunday, a medical team in PPE kits went on board to conduct an RT-PCR test of all 2,016 people, including passengers and crew members onboard. One Covid-infected crew member was first isolated and RT-PCR tests of 1,471 passengers and 595 crew members were conducted on Sunday, 2 January.

Also read: India records 33,750 new COVID cases, Omicron tally stands at 1,700

“The respective collectors and Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) staff have been informed. The govt will take appropriate measures to discuss disembarking of passengers,” Health Minister Rane said.

The Goa government has said that it will take appropriate measures for disembarking of the passengers.

At present, the ship is harbored near Mormugao Port cruise terminal in Vasco and is scheduled to leave for Mumbai at 8 pm.

The Mumbai Port Trust had not permitted the cruise to dock in Goa. Once docked on the Mumbai port, the passengers will undergo one more RT-PCR test.

According to official data, Goa recorded 388 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday (January 1), taking the total number of infections in the state to 1,81,570. Meanwhile, with one more death, the fatalities reached 3,523 in the state.

Cordelia is the same cruise ship raided by Narcotics Control Bureau officials last year over an alleged drugs bust in a case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, among others, were named.

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