Cruise ships ordered from Australian waters

SYDNEY: Two cruise ships off the coast of Western Australia have been told to ‘‘immediately’’ leave Australian waters, after the country’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus was traced to a cruise liner that docked in Sydney Harbour last week.

Cruise ships have become a flash point for the epidemic in Australia after 147 of 2700 passengers who disembarked from Ruby Princess cruise ship in Sydney later tested positive for Covid19.

State authorities have clashed with the central government over the handling of the issue, adding to tensions over matters including virus testing and school closures as the number of cases rapidly rises above 2550, with 12 dead.

Yesterday, seven of 800 foreign passengers on board Germanoperated MV Artania tested positive for Covid19, and two more were unwell.

West Australian premier Mark McGowan said noone would be permitted to disembark Artania unless there was a ‘‘life threatening emergency’’.

A second cruise ship, Magnifica, which refuelled in Perth this week, is in Western Australian waters after being refused entry in Dubai.

The premier said no passengers on board were ill and arrangements were being made for it to travel to another port.

Western Australia is preparing Rottnest Island, a former prison island turned tourist attraction, to quarantine some of the 800 Australians on board a third cruise ship, Britishoperated Vasco de Gama, which will arrive on Monday.

More than 100 other passengers from Britain and New Zealand will be quarantined on the ship. — AAP