Goa – Mumbai Cruiser’s COVID patients refuse to get down at Goa and sent back to Mumbai

The Cordelia cruise ship, which was in trip to Goa and on board which as many as 66 of the 2,000-odd guests tested positive for the coronavirus illness (Covid-19) yesterday, has now been returned to Mumbai, according to the PTI news agency on Tuesday.

According to the composition, which cited a shipping agency functionary, the decision to turn the voyage boat back was made when a sprinkle of the diseased people refused to be transferred to a medical centre in the littoral state.

The Cordelia cruise ship, which was previously in the news due to a high-profile cocaine bust case, was now transporting throngs of New Year’s Eve revellers from Mumbai to Goa. However, once a staff member got Covid-19, all passengers’ samples were analysed. According to Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane, as many as 66 individuals on board tested positive for the viral sickness after that.

Govind Pernulkar, manager of operations at JM Baxi and Co, a local ship agent, told the PTI news agency that as many as 27 of the passengers who tested positive declined to be admitted to a Covid-19 facility in Goa.

‘Only six crew members out of a total of 66 who tested positive were allowed to disembark [in Goa],’ he claimed.

After evaluating the issue, the South Goa district government decided that the ship and all of its passengers be returned to Mumbai, he said, adding that the ship was returned around 11.30 p.m. on Monday and is scheduled to arrive in Mumbai by Tuesday afternoon.

‘The people who were sent to an isolation unit were also returned to the ship before it went to Mumbai,’ Pernulkar explained. ‘Coronavirus positive people would be segregated on the ship,’ says the captain.