Passengers departed Australia for the three week cruise on 11 March. Some are now demanding the government repatriated them and point out the Federal Government only banned overseas travel for citizens on 24 March, some two weeks after their departure.
Look at the Timeline
25 January. First case of COVID-19 detected in Australia
27 January. Fifth case reported
31 January. Government requires all foreign nationals returning from China to self-isolate for 14 days in another country prior to arrival.
1 February. 10th case reported
6 February. Total of 15 cases
7 February. Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama with numerous COVID-19 infected passengers.
27 February. Federal Government activates the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan
1 March. 1st death
2 March. First community spread cases reported
4 March. 2nd death
6 March. Man in his 20's returns from Nepal with flu like symptoms and told to self isolate for 14 days. Ignores instructions and goes to work in hotel. Test results come back positive.
8 March. 3rd death
9 March. School teacher infected by partner who was on same retuning overseas flight as infected Melbourne doctor.
11 March. MV Greg Mortimer cruise passengers head overseas.
One month after the outbreak on the Diamond Princess and deaths in Australia these people head overseas on a cruise ship holiday. One assumes these passengers felt that as the government hadn't banned travelling overseas there was nothing preventing them from going. Now they are at risk of infection in a high risk environment and the Uruguayan authorities won't allow them to disembark.
Sometimes people take risks and sometimes they have dire consequences! Yes, they probably would have lost the money they paid for the holiday had they cancelled. However they would have significantly reduced the risk of losing their lives.
I’m taking this self-isolation philosophically.
In a crisis some see adversity whilst others see opportunity
2 comments :
Where did the MV Greg Mortimer cruise start from? Presumably South America meaning there were a few flights involved as well.
The seagulls are at Looe at the East ferry berth btw...
Hi Don,
I believe it was a 9 days round cruise from Montivideo. Passengers left Australia on 11 March to fly to South America. So you can get toilet paper at Looe :-)
Post a Comment