Another Cruise Ship In Australia Hit With COVID Outbreak Onboard

As many as 100 people onboard a P&O cruise ship have been infected with COVID-19, the second ship in Australia to suffer a mass outbreak within a week.

The Pacific Explorer cruise ship docked in Sydney on Monday morning after returning from a nine-night cruise to Queensland. There were 2,800 passengers on board the cruise ship at the time of the outbreak, Seatrade Cruise News reported.

Passengers who tested positive for COVID-10 were moved to hotels or their homes, the Guardian said. P&O is paying for passengers who were relocated to hotels and refunding passengers who were forced to quarantine inside their cabin, the Australian said.

Passengers onboard the Pacific Explorer said the captain of the ship announced the outbreak on Friday, according to the Guardian.

“The positive passengers were then moved to a different deck and were confined to their cabins," Pacific Explorer passenger Leanne Mayer told the news outlet. “ By Saturday we could see the tables and notes on the cabin doors of those positive and isolating. P&O handled the situation extremely well, I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”

Mayer told the Guardian that rapid antigen tests were voluntary, adding, “This is just an unfortunate situation, but not unexpected.” It was the second cruise ship to have a COVID outbreak aboard within a week as cases of the virus surge in the country.

Last week, Princess Cruise’s Coral Princess ship had at least 130 COVID-19 cases onboard as it docked in Brisbane, Australia, amid a 12-night New South Wales sailing with more than 2,300 passengers and crew members onboard.

In the last 24 hours, the Australian state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, reported 9,761 new COVID cases with five deaths from the virus, according to NSW Health.

The Pacific Explorer is slated for a four-night cruise to Moreton Island, which departs on Monday, the Australian said.