Ponant suffers first COVID-19 outbreak on board cruise ship
Ponant’s health and safety protocols have been put to the test, with the luxury cruise line suffering its first COVID-19 outbreak on board one of its vessels.
During tests carried out on board Le Jacques Cartier, two positive cases were revealed on Sunday 25 October.
The ship was in Syracuse, Italy at that time during the cruise from 25 October to 2 November from Valletta, Malta to Athens, Greece with 72 guests on board.
Travel Weekly understands the ship’s passengers were made up mostly of French travellers, and there were no Australians on board.
Le Jacques Cartier obtained the necessary authorisations from the French authorities to sail to France with all passengers and crew members on board, arriving and disembarking in Marseille on 2 November under the control of the ARS PACA and the French health authorities.
In line with Ponant’s procedures and in agreement with the Italian authorities, Travel Weekly understands a screening campaign by PCR test was immediately undertaken across all passengers and crew members, detecting 17 positive COVID-19 cases in total (14 crew and three passengers).
They were immediately placed in isolation in their cabins, under the sanitary supervision of the doctor on board. It’s understood that none of the people who tested positive showed any critical symptoms.
Prior to the outbreak, Ponant had successfully operated more than 60 COVID-free cruises and carried 3,500 passengers since 11 July.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
coronavirus COVID-19 COVID-19 outbreak cruise cruise line cruise ship Le Jacques Cartier PCR test ponantLatest News
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