Repatriation of Perth liner passengers in doubt

Authorities on Saturday were still hoping to fly 800 cruise ship passengers from Australia to Germany this weekend, but a sharp overnight rise in cases of the new coronavirus on board brought severe complications for the repatriation mission.

The Artania is one of three cruise ships anchored off Fremantle, south of Perth, causing problems for both the state government of Western Australia and the federal administration in Canberra.

Officials had planned to fly the 800 non-Australian passengers aboard from Perth, the state capital, to Germany on three chartered flights this weekend, before the ship departs Australian waters.

But an increase from nine known COVID-19 patients - who disembarked to enter quarantine on Friday - to more than 70 on Saturday cast severe doubt on the plan. The state government now fears that at the least those passengers displaying symptoms will not be allowed to board the flights, while local media reported that the entire plan was in doubt.

Given the known rapid rate at which COVID-19 is passed on, authorities were said to be closely monitoring the situation before making a decision on whether the flights would go ahead.

Australia had 3,635 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Saturday afternoon, with a steep rise of 469 new cases in 24 hours. Fourteen people have died from the disease in Australia. More than 202,000 coronavirus tests had been carried out, the federal government said.

The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.