March 30, 2021

Successful Control of an Onboard COVID-19 Outbreak Using the Cruise Ship as a Quarantine Facility, Western Australia

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

Keywords (Tags): transmission, travel

• Onboard quarantine measures to reduce the risk of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak among crew members of the cruise ship MS Artania led to no symptomatic infections among crew members after completion of quarantine, despite an attack rate of 6% (30 of 503) before quarantine and 5% (21 of 441) during quarantine on board. The outbreak occurred in late-March 2020 in Western Australia. Operational aspects of the quarantine included disinfection, crew segregation, infection zones, and daily health checks to monitor crew well-being. Surveillance measures during quarantine involved telephone correspondence, face-to-face visits, and routine testing.

Codreanu et al. (Mar 24, 2021). Successful Control of an Onboard COVID-19 Outbreak Using the Cruise Ship as a Quarantine Facility, Western Australia. Emerging Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2705.204142