Two large cruise liners reported COVID outbreaks during their latest sailings in Brazil (South America).
Costa Cruises' Costa Diadema (scheduled to dock at Port Santos/Sao Paulo on Monday, December 27) reported 13 COVID cases (10 pax and 3 crew). The ship's next departure (New Year's Eve voyage) was delayed, but not impacted, with call ports Salvador de Bahia and Ilheus.
In a video posted on social media, Naim Jose Ayub (Diadema ship's Cruise Director) confirmed COVID cases onboard. He said the first case had been detected at the beginning of the voyage after routine testing.
After Salvador and Ilheus they had 8 more cases that had been immediately isolated. Close contacts had been also placed in isolation. The infected were then disembarked directly home.
Costa Diadema completed the disembarkation of all guests, and started the boarding for the next trip, after complete disinfection.
MSC reported 20 COVID cases on MSC Splendida. The liner arrived in Santos (Sao Paulo) on Sunday, carrying 2549 passengers and 1251 crew. MSC said that a total of 15 passengers and 5 crew had tested positive before the vessel arrived in homeport Santos on December 26.
All 20 infected were isolated in a dedicated section (of balcony staterooms), away from all passenger operations. As soon as the vessel docked in Santos, guests disembarked as part of the protocol for quarantine on land. The positive crew also disembarked and will remain in isolation in a hotel.
Splendida was then cleared by the port authorities and departed Santos as scheduled.
For more Costa Diadema incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.
For more MSC Splendida incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.