India / 2,000 people stuck on Goa cruise ship after crew member tests COVID-19 positive

Goa: At least 2,000 people are stuck on the Mumbai-Goa Cordelia cruise ship after a crew member tested positive from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Hindustan Times’ sister publication Livehindustan reported.

The ship had come from Mumbai and is docked at Mormugao cruise terminal.

The health authorities are testing all the 2,000 passengers onboard the cruise ship. These passengers are eagerly awaiting their test results, Livehindustan further reported.

The infected crew member, meanwhile, has been kept under isolation, the Livehindustan report added. The person was found positive in a rapid antigen test.

The authorities have asked all the passengers to remain on the cruise ship will their test results are out. Operators of this cruise ship have been asked to conduct Covid-19 tests on all the passengers through the Vasco-based Salgaonkar Medical Research Centre (SMRC) Hospital.

The Goa government, meanwhile, is aiming to inoculate all 72,000 children in the 15-18 age group against Covid-19 with the first dose in the next four days after vaccination opens for them on Monday, state health minister Vishwajit Rane said on Sunday.

"Goa has already received 72,000 doses to vaccinate the children between the age group of 15 to 18 years, which would be administered within 3-4 days from January 3 onwards," Rane told reporters after attending a meeting of health ministers of states chaired by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

Rane also said Goa will set up a genome sequencing machine in the next 15 days to avoid delay in the testing of suspected Omicron variant samples, which are currently sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV).

He said that chief minister Pramod Sawant will hold a meeting of Covid task force on Monday in which certain measures are likely to be announced to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.