Above Photo: The British ship MS Braemar dock in Cartagena, Colombia, before strand in the Caribbean sea, March, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @2019nCoVwatcher
Prensa Latina reports on Cuba allowing a ship from the UK to dock even though it had five passengers with the coronavirus on board quoting the Cuban Foreign Ministry saying “’These are times of solidarity, of understanding health as a human right, of strengthening international cooperation to face our common challenges, values that are inherent to the humanist practice of the Revolution and our people,’ the Minrex statement underlines.”
The ship carries 682 passengers and 381 crew members, arrived in the Bahamas on Saturday, but was denied docking. Cuba working with the British authorities, it has organized the safe return of the passengers of the cruise ship MS Braemar.
KZ
Update: British Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases to Dock in Cuba
The ship MS Braemar has been desperately searching for a place to dock after multiple countries have denied it assistance.
Cuba will allow a British cruise ship stranded in the Caribbean to dock with at least five cases of Covid-19 on board, after multiple countries in the region denied its assistance.
In the last few hours, the British ship MS Braemar has been desperately searching for a place to dock, after at least five passengers tested positive for Covid-19.
“No country has authorized the docking. Only Cuba would do such a thing,” CNN Havana correspondent Patrick Oppmann, who spread the news, wrote on his Twitter account.
Oppmann added that, according to a diplomatic source in Cuba, “the Caribbean island understands the situation of these passengers.”
Just in: Cuba has said it is willing to receive the stranded Braemar cruise ship and “comprehends the difficult situation these passengers find themselves in,” a diplomatic source in Cuba tells CNN. At least five people aboard have tested positive for the coronavirus. 1/2
— Patrick Oppmann CNN (@CNN_Oppmann) March 16, 2020
Cuba will authorize the docking because of “humanitarian concerns. Those infected must be treated and the spread of infection must be stopped. The pandemic will only end with everyone’s effort,” Oppmann said.
The Caribbean nation has since announced that the British cruise ship will dock at its harbor; thus, ending its odyssey in search of a port to dock at.
“Following request from #UK government, #Cuba has authorized docking of cruise ship MS Braemar with small number of passengers testing positive for #Covid-19. Sanitary measures established in WHO and @MINSAPCuba protocols will be implemented to receive passengers and crew,” Cuban President Bruno Rodriguez tweeted.
The MS Braemar, which belongs to the British company Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, carries 682 passengers and 381 crew members.
Among them, four passengers and one crew member tested positive, while another 40 are quarantined for cold symptoms.
The passengers are mostly British, but also include Canadian, Australian, Belgian, Colombian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, New Zealand, Norwegian and Swedish citizens.