Coronavirus ship in race to transfer passengers
A cruise ship carrying a lot more than 1,800 persons off Panama is in a race to transfer healthy passengers to some other ship after four people died - and two others tested positive for coronavirus.
The owners of the Zaandam, Holland America, said that a lot more than 130 people up to speed had reported suffering "flu-like symptoms" and respiratory issues.
Nobody has left the ship since it docked in Chile fourteen days ago.
Holland America said it planned to transfer passengers to a sister ship.
The Zaandam and the Rotterdam are both off the western, Pacific coast of Panama. The Zaandam plans to sail through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean Sea and continue steadily to Florida.
The Panamanian authorities have said no vessel with confirmed coronavirus cases up to speed can go through the Panama Canal.
"Today we announced a plan to transfer sets of healthy Zaandam guests to Rotterdam," the Dutch-owned operator said in a statement on Facebook, adding that it could follow "strict protocols".
It said that "four older guests" had died, but didn't give further details about the sources of death.
"We received approval from Panamanian authorities to conduct ship-to-ship businesses at anchor between your two vessels," the statement reads.
The ships have already transferred medical supplies and staff.
"We continue to use the Panamanian authorities on approval to transit the Panama Canal for sailing to Fort Lauderdale, Florida," Holland America said.
It added that 53 guests and 85 crew members had reported influenza-like illness symptoms.
There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew up to speed the Zaandam, including four doctors and four nurses. On the Rotterdam there are two doctors and four nurses, the business said.
The Panama Maritime Authority later said that passengers who were not displaying coronavirus symptoms could be used in the Rotterdam.
"It has been figured it generally does not represent any risk to your population because it will be carried out a lot more than eight miles from the mainland," the authority said, adding that the bodies of the deceased would stick to the Zaandam.
The Zaandam was on a SOUTH USA cruise that departed from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 March.
On Friday, Panama reported that 14 persons had up to now died in the country after contracting Covid-19, with 786 confirmed cases of infection.
There are now a lot more than 10,000 coronavirus cases in SOUTH USA, AFP news agency reported.
