Crew of virus-hit cruise liner disembark in Uruguay
Crew members from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Greg Mortimer have already been permitted to disembark in Uruguay, after almost 8 weeks at sea.
Of the a lot more than 60 crew members, 36 tested positive for the virus.
The ship's passengers had already disembarked last month and flown home.
Meanwhile, two crew members became seriously ill with Covid-19 and were hospitalised. One, who was from the Philippines, later died. The other recovered and was flown home to Poland.
After disembarking on Tuesday, crew members who had tested positive were taken to a hotel in Montevideo to be quarantined, while the others were taken up to another hotel in the city.
The Greg Mortimer, owned by the Australian firm Aurora Expeditions, was taking a lot more than 200 persons to Antarctica, South Georgia and Elephant Island - but the tour was called off on 20 March.
This was for the reason that nearest South American countries - Argentina and Chile - had closed their borders and imposed lockdowns.
It eventually anchored off Montevideo on 27 March, but wasn't permitted to dock in the port until 10 April.
Uruguay's Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi said it was necessary to allow the crew to disembark because the persons who were infected with the virus weren't recovering.
"If we don't remove them, they don't heal," he said at the port. "We took your choice to disembark them, taking all health measures for the citizenry."
Mr Talvi added that none of the 36 crew who had tested positive were showing symptoms, and that the ship will be thoroughly disinfected.
The hotels where the crew will be quarantined are closed to the general public, and so are being supervised by the health ministry. The crew won't be allowed to leave their rooms and can have daily health checks.
After two weeks, people with no symptoms and a poor test result will be allowed to leave Uruguay on commercial flights.
Another 20 crew members are remaining up to speed, however, because they are considered necessary to the boat's safety. They have all tested negative for the virus.
If indeed they still test negative "in two or three weeks", the boat will sail to Las Palmas in Spain, Mr Talvi said.
