More than 70 cruise passengers and crew members onboard the Artania ship in Fremantle are suspected of being infected with Coronavirus (COVID-19), causing further problems for the West Australian government.
Premier Mark McGowan is pushing for the Commonwealth to take responsibility for the vessel. It is understood among the options considered for the ship is to sail to a defense base like the detention centre at Christmas Island or HMAS Stirling at Garden Island WA.
On Friday, March 27, nine people confirmed or suspected of being infected with Coronavirus disembarked from Artania and were taken into quarantine at the police academy. Two other ill people, who don't have the virus, remained in hospital after leaving the liner on Thursday.
Plans were underway for the hundreds of healthy European travellers and some crew members to be flown to Germany on 3 planes over the weekend.
CMV Vasco da Gama docked in Fremantle port Friday evening and her New Zealand passengers will fly home Saturday night, March 28.
About 200 cruisers from WA will go into isolation on Rottnest Island for 2 weeks, while about 600 other Australians are due to go to either Rottnest or another hotel to quarantine for 14 days before heading back home.
MSC Magnifica, which is anchored off the port of Fremantle but does not have any COVID-19 cases, is still expected to depart after reprovisioning.
For other Artania accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.
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.