Pacific Dawn sails following health clearance
SYDNEY – P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn left Sydney last night on its scheduled 10-night cruise to Queensland following clearance from health authorities.
The embarkation of the ship was delayed earlier at the request of the New South Wales health department which wanted to run tests on four passengers who were confirmed to have Influenza A on the previous cruise.
NSW Health has since confirmed two of the passengers tested positive for human swine flu. They are now in isolation at home.
A crew member has also been diagnosed with the virus.
That person was one of 14 crew members who voluntarily left the ship yesterday after advising they were feeling unwell.
“We have worked very closely with the NSW and Federal authorities and Pacific Dawn has sailed with the full approval of these authorities,†a P&O spokesperson said.
“We offered an additional precaution of disembarking a small number of crew who have reported flu-like symptoms.”
All crew onboard will be treated with anti-viral medication, which will also be available at no cost to any passengers should they be displaying flu-like symptoms.
Meanwhile NSW Health is contacting all passengers on the ship’s previous cruise.
The cruise line said it was confident of its onboard hygiene systems, and was advising passengers and crew to take extra care to practice healthy habits and report to the medical centre immediately if they exhibit any symptoms of flu.
CEO Ann Sherry assured passengers that P&O Cruises had experienced doctors and well-equipped medical centres to manage any issues onboard.
As a further precaution, Ms Sherry said she had made the decision today to close the spa and beauty centre on the current cruise as an additional precaution because of the close proximity between passengers and crew in this environment.
Ian Jarrett
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