Chile quarantined 1300+ people on 2 cruise ships after an elderly passenger aboard one of them tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19), the health ministry announced on Saturday. Both vessels are on itineraries through the Chilean Fjords.
The 85-year-old British man showed Coronavirus symptoms after disembarking Silver Explorer in port Caleta Tortel, approx 2400 km from Valparaiso-Santiago Chile. He was later transferred to a hospital in Coyhaique where he tested positive for COVID-19.
According to Health Minister Jaime Manalich, the ship was in quarantine off Port Castro (Chiloe Island Chile). The British citizen was in good condition but had tested positive for Coronavirus.
The other luxury cruise ship - Azamara Pursuit (carrying 665 passengers plus ~400 crew) had earlier sailed into Chilean waters from Port Ushuaia Argentina. Manalich added the vessel was currently close to Port Chacabuco after authorities had banned it from disembarking travellers there, on grounds that it was carrying suspected Coronavirus patients. Azamara Pursuit is on a 21-day voyage from Buenos Aires to Callao.
See at the ships' CruiseMinus pages for other Silver Explorer and Azamara Pursuit accidents and incidents.
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.