The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) extended its “No Sail Order” for all cruise vessels by at least 100 days or until the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is no longer considered public health emergency.
According to CDC, there were 100 cruise ships at sea off the USA's coasts, with ~80,000 crew onboard. 20 ships are currently docked or anchored in the USA and have confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases among their crew, according to the CDC's statement on Thursday, April 9.
The cruise industry suspended operations in mid-March following a series of dramatic outbreaks that raised questions about the safety of cruising. Some cruise ships caught at sea at the time struggled to find ports to receive them back, though all but a handful have done so.
Cruise companies, led by world's largest cruise shipowner Carnival Corporation, have turned to financial markets to raise billions in order to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic. Carnival estimates that it has liquidity needs of ~USD 1 billion for each month it doesn't sail.
Some cruise operators had kept new departures scheduled for May 2020.
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.