Cruise passengers arriving in Sydney will be assessed by health experts for the deadly coronavirus in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
On Sunday, February 16, NSW Health said a risk assessment would be completed before each cruise ship's arrival into the harbour and then a decision would be made on whether to disembark travellers from the vessel.
The health authority insists it's a precautionary measure to prevent the COVID-19 spread.
Passengers arriving in Sydney NSW on cruise vessels from New Zealand on Sunday would be assessed as a "safeguard," the health authority announced in a statement. The testing process is similar to the assessments done for passengers arriving at the airport.
NSW Health revealed that thousands of cruise passengers, including the elderly, are often on ships and often require medical management for unrelated infectious diseases during the cruise or when they disembark.
This comes after a person on Norwegian Jewel was on Friday, February 14, tested and cleared of the coronavirus during a precautionary assessment. The cruise ship, which arrived in the port of Sydney on Friday and was due to depart on Saturday for a 14-day Australia and New Zealand voyage, was never locked down.
The owner of the ship slammed "false and inflammatory" media reports suggesting someone on board could have contracted the deadly disease.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.