Objective of zero cruise passengers in Marseille hospitals

• On a stopover Sunday in Marseille, the Grandiosa liner docked in Italy with at least 45 passengers positive for Covid.

• While the return of the liner, on a European cruise, is expected in less than a week,

  20 Minutes

  takes stock of this cluster and the health protocol linked to the cruise activity in Marseille.

La Grandiosa will be back in Marseille next Sunday.

The MSC company liner is indeed continuing its European cruise, between France, Italy, Malta and Spain, after disembarking on Monday in the Italian port of Genoa several dozen passengers who tested positive for Covid.

This the day after the ship's stopover in Marseille.

Who are the people who got off the ship in Genoa?

The Italian press has put forward the number of 150 people tested positive for Covid-19 on board the Grandiosa on Monday.

The MSC denied this figure, telling AFP that 45 passengers were concerned, before later admitting that there were other positive cruise passengers on board the ship, without specifying their number, and adding that they would disembark when of the next stopovers.

Contacted by

, the company declined to further comment on the nationality of the people concerned and their port of embarkation.

What health checks are carried out during cruise stopovers in Marseille?

During this off-peak period of the year, three cruise ships stop over in Marseille every week. Or on average 40,000 passengers, of which only about 20% board in Marseille. Between the terminal, the shipping company and the national protocol governing the resumption of cruise activity, the health rules add up. According to Jean-François Suhas, president of the Marseille Provence cruise club, companies like MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises have gone well beyond the basic protocol decreed by the international association of cruise companies, headquartered in the States. -United. “The Italians were the first to relaunch cruises with very strict things,” he explains. Passengers are tested three times during their week of cruising. There are thermal cameras,and their temperature is taken three times a day. ”Not to mention that they must all be fully vaccinated, have a negative test carried out within 48 hours before the departure of the ship, and undergo an antigen test at the embarkation terminal.

What are the rules specific to Marseille?

The battalion of marine firefighters (BMPM), which helped carry out test stopovers last June, is deploying its famous wastewater monitoring system for each cruise ship touching the quay in Marseille.

A sample is handed over by the crew, and analyzed by their mobile laboratory.

"Depending on the results, the passengers are retested under the responsibility of the owner before going on an excursion", indicate the marine firefighters.

At the same time, the BMPM dog team is present at the time of the descent of the ship, with its dogs specially trained in the detection of the virus.

It “scans” passengers before they board the tour buses.

What is the risk during these stopovers?

The excursions are organized in a “bubble” format, in order to limit contact between passengers and the local population. “If they go to a restaurant, the place is dedicated to them,” cites Jean-François Suhas as an example. As for the crews of the ships, all vaccinated, they have enormous constraints, they cannot go ashore. "" We stopped cruises in 2020 to preserve hospital capacity, he continues. With the idea that if we have a cluster with 100 people to be hospitalized, we will not know how to do it. This is our doctrine. We are not going to fill Marseille hospitals with cruise passengers, there is no doubt about that. " For now,he wishes to relate the figure of 45 passengers tested positive on board the Grandiosa to that of "one million people transported by the company since the resumption of cruises in August 2020". While conceding that Omicron could quickly change his speech.

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• Tourism

• Harbor

• Marseilles

• Maritime transport

• Italy

• Coronavirus

• Cruises

• Society

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