The MSC Preziosa cruise arrived in Rio de Janeiro this Sunday morning (2) with the record of at least 20 cases of Covid-19, according to information from the Municipal Health Department.
Passengers who tested positive and other people who had contact with them should disembark this morning in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. The forecast was for the departure to take place at 8 am, but there was a delay.
In a statement, MSC disclosed that the percentage of contaminated people inside the ship was 0.6% of the number of passengers. With the number of passengers disclosed by the company, this number would be at least 19 people infected with SARS-Cov-2.
The estimate was confirmed by the Municipal Health Department, which stated, in a note, that “all the patients, as well as the approximately 35 to 40 contacts are in isolation on board”.
The disembarkation of these passengers will be done in a safe way “so that they return to their homes or stay in hotels for the necessary isolation period”, says the statement.
“The Center for Strategic Information on Health Surveillance (CIEVS) of the municipality has already received and analyzed the Onboard Medical Book and will carry out the epidemiological investigation together with ANVISA as soon as the vessel is properly docked, in order to determine the epidemiological scenario of the vessel and take preventive and control measures”, says the note.
The company claims that Covid’s cases were identified due to the health monitoring routine carried out on the ship, in which every day 10% of all guests and crew on the ship are tested as defined by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) .
The MSC Preziosa cruise travels with around 3,200 people on board, including passengers and crew. After the passengers disembark, MSC informed that it must continue with the planned itinerary, which contains 8 more stops.
Even with Anvisa’s recommendation for the cruise ship season to be temporarily suspended, Pier Mauá, in Rio de Janeiro, confirmed that the vessel schedule is maintained at the beginning of the year.
This Sunday, representatives of the health surveillance of the state of RJ and City Hall entered the vessel in the morning.
Anvisa’s recommendation was due to the sudden increase in cases of Covid-19 infection detected in vessels operating cruises along the Brazilian coast and the transmission of the Ômicron variant in national territory.
*With information from Beatriz Puente, Thayana Araújo and Vinícius Tadeu, from CNN
Reference: CNN Brasil
