Nearly 150 cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed among crew members of an Italian cruise liner COSTA ATLANTICA docked in Japan after health authorities finished testing everyone on board, an official said on Saturday 25th April, 2020.
Specialists from the health ministry said Wednesday 22nd April, 2020 that a cluster of coronavirus infections is likely to have occurred aboard the ship, which arrived in Nagasaki last January 29th and is scheduled to remain until the end of April. She was originally due to undergo repairs in China but Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., a unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., eventually received the repair order due to the virus outbreak, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
COSTA ATLANTICA leaving Valletta back to 2nd May 2008.
The company initially stated that no one had boarded or disembarked the ship since the first virus infection in the prefecture was confirmed in Iki on March 14th. But on Wednesday, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding admitted some crew members had done so after that date.
According to a local immigration bureau, around 90 crew members disembarked over a one month period through April 15th, while around 40 people newly boarded the ship during this time. Of those infected on board the liner COSTA ATLANTICA, only one crew member has been admitted to hospital, while others remain on board, having shown slight or no symptoms.
Nagasaki authorities had quarantined the vessel on arrival, and ordered her crew not to venture beyond the quay except for hospital visits.
Also Thursday 23rd April, another liner COSTA VENEZIA with no passengers aboard, docked in Nagasaki for fuel and stores replenishment.
COSTA VENEZIA berthed at Dubrovnik, Croatia on her first cruise back to 7th March 2019.
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Sunday 26th April,2020