Panic shrouds Sydney as 800 passengers test Covid positive in a cruise ship

After a cruise in Australia was docked in with hundreds of Covid infected passengers, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister on Saturday sought to reassure the public that COVID-19 protocols were adequate.  Carnival Australia’s Majestic Princess cruise ship was docked in Sydney, the capital of the most populous state, New South Wales, with “in the vicinity” of 800 passengers on board testing positive to the virus, the company said.  

This incident is similar to that of 2020 outbreak where 914 passengers onboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship were tested Covid positive which resulted in 28 deaths.  Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the authorities have created “regular protocols” in the wake of the Ruby Princess episode and that New South Wales Health would take the lead on determining how to get passengers off the Majestic Princess “on a case by case basis”.  

Company president Marguerite Fitzgerald told ABC television that once Carnival saw an elevated number of COVID cases, it put extra protocols in place.  The outbreak comes as COVID-19 cases rise across Australia, reflecting community transmission of the Omicron variant XBB, the federal government said this week.