MUMBAI, Jan 5: As many as 143 more passengers on board the Cordelia cruise ship that was turned back from Goa port, have tested positive for Coronavirus, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.
This was in addition to 66 passengers who have already been diagnosed with infection when their reports were received on Tuesday.
The cruise ship returned to Mumbai from Goa on Tuesday after one of its crew members had tested positive. The Goa authorities refused to allow the cruise passengers to disembark at the Goa port and asked it to return to its place of origin, Mumbai.
The civic body has received RT-PCR test reports of all 1,827 passengers on board the ship, Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC, said. Last night, the civic body conducted RT-PCR tests on 1,827 passengers after the vessel anchored at the International Cruise Terminal in South Mumbai’s Ballard Pier. The civic body had arranged five ambulances to take the infected passengers to quarantine centres.
The cruise ship was on a new year pleasure trip to Goa. The incident has created controversy why the authorities allowed the cruise trip when the Covid cases were surging in the country with Mumbai being one of the worst affected metro cities.
(Manas Dasgupta)
