800 test COVID-19 positive on Australian cruise ship in Sydney
What's the story
As several hundred people on board a cruise ship in Australia tested positive, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on Saturday tried to reassure the public that "COVID-19 protocols were adequate" to deal with the situation.
Carnival Australia's Majestic Princess cruise ship, which docked in Sydney, one of Australia's largest cities and capital of New South Wales, was carrying 800 infected people, as per reports.
Emergency
The outbreak's risk level is 'Tier 3'
Health officials in the city have put the outbreak's risk level at 'Tier 3,' indicating "serious with high-level transmission."
Carnival Australia, a British-American cruise operator said, "COVID-positive passengers were isolated and being cared for by medical staff."
As per New South Wales Health agency, it was "working with cruise ship staff to monitor the health of onboard."
Information
Amid spike in cases, the ship put in extra protocols
The cruise operator company claims that it ensured that infections did not spread. President of Carnival Australia, Marguerite Fitzgerald, told ABC television, that "once the cruise ship saw an elevated number of COVID cases, it put extra protocols in place."
Similar incident
Comparisons being drawn with the Ruby Princess episode
After 800 people tested positive, comparisons were drawn with an outbreak that occurred onboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship in 2020 in the same city.
28 people died among the 914 infected.
Home Affairs Minister on Saturday said, "Authorities have created regular protocols after the Ruby episode."
"Health authorities would determine how to get passengers off the ship," she said.
Pandemic
Sydney has recorded major COVID-19 deaths in the country
Since the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia in 2020, the country has recorded 1.05 crore infected cases.
Australia, the world's sixth-largest country with a population of around 2.5 crore, lost over 15,000 to the infection to date.
Among all deaths in the county, nearly 35% occurred in Sydney, New South Wales as 5,476 died due to the infection.