Brazilian national health agency Anvisa called the public to avoid cruise ships for at least the beginning of 2022.
The warning comes after several medium-sized COVID-19 outbreaks aboard Brazil-based cruise ships last week.
Considering the situation, Anvisa said that it:
Does not recommend the embarkation of passengers who have trips scheduled on cruise ships for the next few days. This recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk to the health of passengers and the unpredictability of operations at this time
As a result, last week Anvisa suspended the operations of the cruise ship Costa Diadema, which had just arrived at the Brazilian port of Salvador, with 68 COVID cases on board.
Anvisa declared the outbreak a “community transmission of Covid-19, level 4” incident and ordered the Diadema to transit back to its home port at Santos.
In addition, the cruise ship MSC Splendida reported a similar outbreak at about the same time, with Anvisa ordering the ship not to board its next complement of passengers for the next voyage.
Further recent outbreaks aboard Costa Fascinosa and MSC Seaside are also under investigation.
What is more, Anvisa will launch an investigation into COVID policy compliance aboard cruise ships in the Brazilian market.
Failure to follow health protocols and disobeying restrictive measures imposed by the authorities constitute infractions that, if confirmed, will result in fines and the suspension of activities
In addition, Anvisa formally suggested that Brazil’s cruise season should be temporarily suspended. While the agency cannot issue such an order on its own authority, it has publicly advised Brazil’s Ministry of Health to take this decision.
In its recommendation, Anvisa pointed to the U.S. CDC, which has advised the public against cruising in the near term due to the risk of spreading the highly-contagious omicron variant. Despite mandatory or near-mandatory vaccination policies, U.S.-based cruise ships have reported a rising number of breakthrough infections due to omicron.
This decision by Brazil, follows a call by CDC to avoid cruise travel because of Omicron variant spread. CDC updated the COVID-19 Travel Health Notice level from Level 3 to Level 4, the highest level.
The new update includes the following instructions:
- Avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status.
- If you travel on a cruise ship, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel and get a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose if you are eligible.
- People who go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms.
- Along with testing, passengers who are not fully vaccinated should self-quarantine for a full 5 days after cruise travel.
- People on cruise ships should wear a mask to keep their nose and mouth covered when in shared spaces.
