The El Venizelos cruiseferry (IMO 7907673) was on Wednesday, April 1, ordered to remain anchored outside Port Pireaus (Athens) until further notice after 20 of its 383 passengers tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19). The ship is carrying 34 crew plus 349 passengers (seamen) of different nationalities.
Two of the patients - a 34-year-old Indonesian man and a 72-year-old Swiss man (both in serious conditions) have been transferred to Attikon hospital. The crew and the other tourists remained on the ship and will stay onboard for at least 12 days.
The ferry had been leased by a Malta-based company to transfer seamen to another ship waiting in Spain. El Venizelos had been anchored outside Port Piraeus since March 21, when the measures forbidding vessels from docking at Greek ports were applied.
The ferry had originally gone to Spain but returned back after docking was denied. The company then ordered the vessel to transfer the crew to Turkey but the Turkish authorities only allowed Turkish seamen to disembark. Since then, it has remained anchored near Piraeus, awaiting further instructions.
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.