US health authorities recommended Thursday, December 30 to avoid cruises, including for people vaccinated, due to the increase in the number of Covid cases on board ships across the globe since the arrival of the variant Omicron.
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As the number of new infections soars every day in the United States, cruise passengers sailing in U.S. territorial waters, which reported 162 cases to health authorities between November 30 and December 14, reported 5,013 between the United States. December 15 and 29, said a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the country’s main health agency, in an email to AFP.
“The virus that causes Covid-19 is easily spread between people in close contact on board ships, and the risk of contracting Covid-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received an booster dose“, Justify in an official message the CDC. They have therefore raised their alert level to the highest level. People still wanting to go on a cruise should get tested one to three days before their departure and three to five days after their return and, for those who are not fully vaccinated, go into quarantine for five days after disembarkation, recommend. health authorities.
“Omicron has considerably changed the landscape of Covid-19”
The coronavirus had caused the suspension of cruise activities for more than a year at the start of the pandemic. They resumed in June with a series of measures to try to keep the virus at bay. Corn “Omicron has dramatically changed the Covid-19 landscape for everyone“, Noted the Royal Caribbean group in a press release Thursday, before the new recommendations of the CDC.
The company acknowledges that the number of contaminations on its ships has increased in recent weeks, while stressing that the contaminations linked to the Omicron variant had not led to any serious case or requiring to go to hospital. Due to the disruptions, Royal Caribbean has canceled or significantly modified 16 of 331 destinations.