A scramble is on to prevent another Ruby Princess-style debacle as a plane filled with coronavirus-infected passengers is just hours away from landing in Australia.
The 112 Australian and New Zealand passengers spent 14 days on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship, which was docked off the coast of Uruguay when it was hit with an outbreak of the deadly disease.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said on Saturday the flight would be landing in Melbourne on Sunday morning.
‘We have reports that up to 70 per cent of these patients have tested positive for COVID-19. The government has been working very, very closely with the cruise ship operators to organise this flight to come back to Australia,’ she said.
Unlike the passengers of the Ruby Princess – who were allowed to walk freely onto Australian shores without testing or imposed quarantine – medical staff will be checking all travellers from the Greg Mortimer before they leave the plane.
Passengers from the coronavirus riddled Greg Mortimer cruise ship are en-route to Australia after 70 per cent of them tested positive for coronavirus. Pictured at Montevideo’s international airport in Uruguay on Saturday
Passengers boarded the plane at Montevideo’s international airport in Uruguay on Saturday.
Those who pose a possible risk will be taken to hospital for further testing but even if they show no symptoms they will be forcefully isolated in hotels for a fortnight.
Passengers from New Zealand will be put onto a connecting flight where they will be flown home.
The ship’s operator Aurora Expeditions confirmed this week 128 of 217 people on board, nearly 60 per cent, had tested positive for the coronavirus but all were asymptomatic.
‘Our priority remains getting everyone on board disembarked as soon and as safely as possible,’ an Aurora Expeditions spokesman said in a statement.
‘It has been a very harrowing time for all involved.’
Medical staff will be checking all travellers from the Greg Mortimer before they leave the plane in Australia
Passengers from the Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship carry their luggage across the tarmac after being allowed off the ship for the first time in two weeks
An ambulance waits by the Greg Mortimer cruise ship to take away sick passengers, including five Australians who have been hospitalised in Uruguay’s capital – Montevideo
However, the Foreign Affairs Department told AAP on Friday five Australians had been evacuated from the Greg Mortimer and hospitalised in Montevideo.
Uruguay had originally refused to let passengers off the cruise ship but later sent medical teams on board and monitored the situation via WhatsApp.
Most of the ill crew and passengers have mild symptoms and are stable, Uruguay public health ministry director-general Karina Rando said.
‘We have intensive care beds, doctors are available and we are not putting the care of our population at risk,’ Ms Rando told the Associated Press.
‘We have the logistical and professional capacity to serve these people.’
Australia has recorded 6,303 cases of coronavirus as of Saturday night with 56 deaths after a 91-year-old woman passed away
Passengers are checked by healthcare workers as they disembark the Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship in Uruguay
An ambulance drives away after picking up sick passengers off the Greg Mortimer cruise ship
The Greg Mortimer departed on March 15 on a voyage to Antarctica and South Georgia but has been docked off the coast of Montevideo since March 27
A sign hanging from a balcony on the ship said ‘Thank you, Uruguay’.
Australia has recorded 6,303 cases of coronavirus as of Saturday night with 56 deaths after a 91-year-old woman passed away.
The Greg Mortimer departed on March 15 on a voyage to Antarctica and South Georgia but has been docked off the coast of Montevideo since March 27.
The evacuated passengers, comprising 96 Australians and 16 New Zealanders, will be repatriated using a ‘humanitarian corridor’ with strict biosecurity measures.
The Ruby Princess arrived in Sydney on March 19 and unloaded its over 2,700 guests without health checks before several passengers went onto test positive for coronavirus
The Uruguay government has evacuated 112 passengers from New Zealand and Australia who were stuck on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship for more than a fortnight
Passengers display a sign saying ‘Thank you Uruguay’ using a bedsheet from the cruise ship
The passengers will be driven in four buses to Montevideo’s Carrasco airport escorted by police and have their luggage disinfected prior to boarding.
A refitted plane operated by charter airline Hi Fly will take them to Melbourne.
Medical personnel would also accompany them on the repatriation flight, with the company footing the bill for the journey under insurance.
‘The plane will be set up into risk zones, with passengers seated by test results and level of care required by the passenger,’ Aurora Expeditions said.
The NZ government plans to reach out to its citizens directly to organise a transfer upon arrival in Australia, Aurora Expeditions said.
More than 280,000 Australians have returned home in recent weeks, with about 6200 of them disembarking from 45 cruise ships around the world.
An Airbus A340 waits on the tarmac to conduct a repatriation flight. The flight will land in Melbourne on Sunday
Passengers are seen boarding the plane after being evacuated from the cruise ship in the darkness
A healthy passengers boards the plane back to Australia after two weeks trapped on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship