Cruise ship declared crime scene

THE Ruby Princess, political battleground and source of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, is now the subject of a massive criminal investigation.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said inquiries into how the ship was allowed to dock would now be the subject of a criminal investigation by the homicide squad.

Mr Fuller said the question for investigators was whether the Ruby Princess’s operator Carnival had been “transparent in contextualising the true patient-crew health conditions relevant to COVID-19” when it docked on March 19.

The NSW Port Authority initially denied the ship permission to dock on March 18 following a call from a senior ambulance officer that some passengers on board were displaying COVID-19 symptoms.

But frantic communications between Carnival and NSW authorities ultimately resulted in the 2700 passengers disembarking in Sydney Harbour the next morning.

“On each occasion they were informed COVID-19 wasn’t an issue on the ship,” Mr Fuller said. “There is clear evidence corona-19 has been brought off that ship.”

At least 11 of the 35 Australians who have died are linked to the ship.

The investigation will cover the actions of the port authority, ambulance, police, the NSW Health department and Carnival Australia.

Almost 200 crew members on the Ruby Princess — which is sitting off the NSW coast — are showing symptoms of respiratory illness.

Of the 1040 crew who remain on board 16 have confirmed infections.

Australia’s coronavirus death toll last night rose to 34 with 5635 cases confirmed.