Viruses spread on ships at sea

HELP US Confirmed: Another 99 passengers infected by the corona virus on cruise ships

The emergency call comes from inside Zaandam, which had been anchored for days since Chile on March 21 refused to let the cruise ship approach the original destination of San Antonio. Now it's stuck in Panama. Four people have died on board, including a Swedish man, and over 130 people have flu-like symptoms.

- We are isolated. We're stuck on this ship, says Canadian Chris Joiner, who has taken a selfie with the emergency call to get the media and his government's attention, to Reuters news agency.

Following the alarm, Panama authorities announce that about 400 symptom-free people on the Dutch ship will be transferred to another ship, with destination Rotterdam. The fate of the other more than 1,400 on board is still unclear.

Zaandam is just one of several cruise ships still stuck outside countries in America and Italy after country after country decided to close its ports, according to a compilation made by The Guardian on Thursday.

In some of them, the situation becomes increasingly desperate as passengers have shown symptoms similar to covid-19. But even vessels where all travelers seem to be healthy are rejected from the ports. With the help of the now world-renowned Diamond Princess who created headlines from the port of Japanese Yokohama early in the Corona crisis, cruise ships have become pariah and few countries are eager to take the risk of welcoming a potential infection cure.

However, passengers in German Artania finally got to land in Fremantle in the state of Western Australia last Friday after another person on board became so ill that they needed intensive care. The government first said no because it was afraid that people with suspected covid-19 would be denied leave and thus remain as a threat to Australia's health.

But when more and more people became ill, there was nothing else to do, according to local government chief Mark McGowan, who has announced that the approximately 800 people who have gone ashore will be flown home.

- There is no perfect solution, but the main thing is that passengers from cruise ships do not walk around our streets. We want to get them out of Western Australia as soon as possible, he says according to the AFP news agency.

The United States CDC has accused cruise ships of spreading the corona virus during the first critical weeks of the outbreak. Limited spaces in combination with close contact between passengers from different countries often make them a breeding ground for outbreaks of infectious diseases, the authority notes in a report.