Cruise ship with COVID-19 outbreak docks in Guaymas, Sonora
Download mp3 (1.1 MB)A cruise ship with an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak among the crew and passengers docked in neighboring Sonora, Mexico, this week.
Holland America Line’s MS Zuiderdam cruise ship was allowed to dock and disembark tourists in Guaymas, Sonora, despite the outbreak.
"We've been notified that this cruise has inside people have have confirmed cases of COVID-19," Sonoran Health Secretary José Luis Alomía said during a press conference Tuesday. "Those people are in isolation inside the ship."
Alomía said there are 30 known cases of the virus among the ship’s nearly 2,000 crew members and passengers. Of those who are sick, 28 are crew members and two are passengers, he added.
About 400 passengers, however, were allowed to disembark in Guaymas after a health screening and negative rapid test result.
This is the first cruise to dock in Sonora since the start of the pandemic.
Mexican officials said in a statement that the country would remain open to cruises as long as World Health Organization safety regulations are followed.
However, officials in the state of Sinaloa said they would not allow the cruise to dock in the port city of Topolobampo.
