Brazilian health authorities announced Sunday that they would investigate reports of protocol violations to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by cruise ships, after outbreaks affected three ships sailing along its coast.
“Failure to comply with health protocols and disobedience to restrictive measures imposed by the authorities constitute health violations that, if confirmed, will result in fines and the suspension of activities (of cruise companies),” warned the federal regulator of health, Anvisa, in a statement.
The statement was issued after Brazilian media reported that passengers on one of the affected ships, the Costa Diadema, violated quarantine orders to participate in a New Year’s party.
Brazil allowed cruises to resume in November, but ordered companies to implement strict protocols against the Covid-19, which included testing passengers and quarantining them in case of infection.
Anvisa reported that it would also reinforce the recommendation it made on Friday to the Brazilian Ministry of Health to immediately suspend all cruises, given the global increase in cases of Covid-19 driven for the new Omicron variant.
The announcement of the investigation comes after Covid-19 outbreaks broke out on three ships off the Brazilian coast on New Years.
Anvisa It said 26 passengers and two crew members tested positive on the MSC Preziosa, a 333-meter ship sailing off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
The ship, with a capacity for 4,000 passengers, was able to dock in the port of Rio on Sunday.
The isolation of infected people and those who came into contact with them was ordered, Anvisa recalled.
On December 30, health authorities suspended the operations of two other ships, the Costa Diadema and the MSC Splendida, after they too reported dozens of Covid-19 cases on board.
The 306-meter Costa Diadema, which was located off the northeastern city of Salvador, was ordered to disembark 68 infected people and return to its port of origin in the southeastern city of Santos for quarantine.
The 333-meter Splendida, which was heading to Rio de Janeiro, was also ordered to return to Santos after reporting 78 cases.
Swiss-Italian company MSC Cruises, whose Brazilian branch operates the Preziosa and Splendida, said in a statement that its ships “would keep their future cruise programs unchanged.”
“In today’s context, a cruise is one of the safest vacation options in the world,” he argued. “No other sector of the travel and tourism industry has such a comprehensive and robust protocol to contain the spread of infectious diseases.”
kg
