Three crew members from the stricken Ruby Princess cruise liner who were suffering acute respiratory symptoms have been been admitted to a Sydney hospital on humanitarian grounds.
The three were among 1100 crew quarantined on the ship off the coast of Sydney as the number of confirmed Australian cases from the ship jumped to 215 by Sunday night.
The latest development comes as all 797 passengers from another cruise liner docked at Fremantle, the Vasco da Garma, were allowed to disembark over the weekend with 600 placed into quarantine in Perth hotels and 197 transferred to Rottnest Island on Monday. The New Zealand passengers were flown home on Sunday morning.
And after a stand-off in WA with German cruise liner the Artania as to who would treated their infected passengers, 29 out of 41 who tested positive for COVID-19 will now be cared for at a private health facility in Perth.
The federal and state government, along with the Joondalup Health Campus, have reached an agreement to care for the patients in the 145-bed private hospital.
“This humanitarian hospital care will be provided in one of the state’s premier facilities, which is fully prepared for and is already treating COVID-19 patients,” Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a statement on Monday.
Joondalup Health Campus chief executive Kempton Cowan it was important that the private sector could assist these patients.
“Our teams are ready with the appropriate training and strict infection controls and safety protocols in place,” he said.
The ship’s other passengers have been flown home to Germany.
Three-quarters of WA’s 311 confirmed coronavirus cases have either come from a flight or a cruise ship.
Operators of the Vasco da Gama, CMV Australia said that it was comforting for the Vasco da Gama guests to finally know the outcome of the state government’s decision.
“Although it took almost five days to receive details of these passenger arrangements since the WA Premier’s initial media announcement, at least we have now been able to let our guests know what the next steps are for them.
“We’re happy to report no cases of COVID-19 on board. After being at sea for over two weeks straight, and with so much change happening around the world, we are glad to give our passengers some certainty,” managing director Dean Brazier said in a statement.
Meanwhile, chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says the three Ruby Princess crew members, who are not Australian nationals, were evacuated with the help of a police launch boat once the ship anchored near Botany Bay.
“There were three patients where it was assessed that they needed to be unloaded from that cruise ship and receive better care,” Dr Chant told reporters on Monday.
“We’ve always indicated we’d put the lives of the crew-members above everything else.”
In the wake of the Ruby Princess fiasco, NSW has banned all cruise ship passengers from disembarking until new protocols are in place.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says no one will leave the Ruby Princess unless they have his personal approval.
“Anyone who has to come off, comes off at my approval,” Mr Fuller told reporters on Monday.
“Three people needed medical attention and we facilitated the removal of those three people.”
Two Ruby Princess passengers, a 77-year-old woman in NSW and a 75-year-old woman in Queensland, died after contracting COVID-19.
Australian Border Force chief Michael Outram last week said the decision to disembark passengers without adequate checks was the responsibility of NSW Health and the federal agriculture department.
Western Australian residents on board will depart for Rottnest Island on Monday via ferries, while non-Western Australian residents will be transferred by coach to hotels throughout the afternoon.
CMV said the Australian Border Force has advised that the Vasco da Gama “must leave Australian waters as soon as possible afterwards, and that its 552-strong crew will not be allowed to take flights home”.
It said the ship and crew will depart Fremantle for London, Tilbury with no passengers on board on Monday at 7pm.
“Although they now face further time not being able to see their loved ones, we’re happy that we were able to keep our guests entertained and comfortable on their journey back to Australia, and that most of all, we were able to return them all healthy,” concluded Mr Brazier.
-with AAP
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