Five cruise ship staff from OR Tambo placed in quarantine

Five cruise ship workers from the OR Tambo district have been placed in quarantine after venturing to high-risk destinations in Europe on a vessel where two people tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Eastern Cape health department took the decision to place the five workers in quarantine after they returned to their home villages in Libode and Port St Johns before the lockdown began in late March.

Health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said one of the quarantined people was at a B&B in Libode, while four were at another guest house in Pholela, Port St Johns.

The workers are from Swazini and Chwebeni in Port St Johns, and Mdumasi and Mantusini in

OR Tambo.

Kupelo did not explain what criteria was used to separate the group.

He said the workers had been on the MSC Orchestra, which had travelled from Durban to Mozambique, Mauritius, Greece, Spain and Barcelona.

Spain is considered a highrisk country for Covid-19.

The cruise liner also went to Cape Town.

“Family contacts have been screened and tested,” Kupelo said on Thursday.

He did not respond to queries about when the workers had arrived in the Eastern Cape, how long they had been under quarantine, and whether they had tested positive or negative for Covid-19.

Kupelo said health officials have been on the ground since Monday, carrying out a mass screening and testing campaign in Port St Johns.

This week the Eastern Cape government declared Port St Johns a virus “hotspot” after more than 100 people had attended a funeral in Majola location, where a man who was among the mourners has since tested positive for the coronavirus.

At the time of writing, the Eastern Cape had 45 confirmed cases.

It was reported on April 1 that the national health department was in a race against time to find anyone who was on board MSC cruise liners after passengers tested positive for the coronavirus.

Most of the people who were on these ships were based in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

The Daily Dispatch contacted the cruise company, whose receptionist said no-one at the company would be able to respond to queries as cruise operations had already been suspended due to the pandemic.

In mid-March, MSC Cruises cancelled all remaining SA cruises for the cruise season ending April 2020 amid the pandemic.

The decision came days after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the closure of 35 of SA’s 52 land-based ports of entry in an effort to control the spread of the virus. —