Grand Princess cruise ship hit by double Covid and gastro outbreaks docks in Adelaide

A double outbreak of Covid-19 and gastroenteritis on a cruise ship has been declared over after it docked in Adelaide and passengers disembarked on Monday morning.

South Australia Health said the remaining cases on the Grand Princess cruise ship, operated by Princess Cruises, were “consistent with numbers you would expect on any cruise ship”.

Princess Cruises said there was no current double outbreak on the ship, which had a capacity for 2,600 passengers and 1,150 crew members and was on a four day round trip from Adelaide to Melbourne. A spokesperson said the number of unwell guests with symptoms was in the “single digits”.

The spokesperson said on a previous trip, which was a 14 day round trip from Melbourne to Queensland, a number of people had symptoms of a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness.

“While most guests were unaffected by illness on that voyage, we proactively launched a comprehensive disinfection program, developed in coordination with international health authorities to prevent further spread,” they said.

The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said those on board the ship that arrive in Adelaide on Monday and needed urgent care would be transported to hospital facilities in a way that was safe.

“It’s been something we’ve been monitoring pretty closely over the last 48 hours,” Malinauskas told Nine’s Today show on Monday.

“The good news is reports that we’ve got from the cruise operators that the number of cases presenting has actually dramatically decreased over the course of the last couple of days.”

SA Health said in a statement the ship docked in Melbourne on Saturday to undergo a clean and all passengers disembarked while that was undertaken.

Princess Cruises said the ship will again be disinfected in Adelaide on Monday before returning to Melbourne.

Maureen Monk, a passenger aboard the ship, told ABC passengers started reporting feeling unwell on the second day of the cruise. After that, more and more were confined to their rooms.

She said she felt a lack of communication about the outbreaks created an “unsafe environment” for passengers.

It comes amid a new Covid wave in Australia, with 2,493 cases confirmed in South Australia on Friday following 1,700 confirmed cases the previous week. Cases have also risen nationally after a dip following the winter period, according to data from the federal health department.

There have also been warnings over a gastro outbreak in Australia, with cases in the past 12 months more than double the usual number.