Ambulances met a cruise ship in Sydney after hundreds of passengers arrived home sick with COVID-19.
They'd been travelling around New Zealand for 12 days, where it stopped several times for onshore excursions. By its last stop in Auckland, 180 people had tested positive and were told to stay in their rooms. Now about 800 of the more than 4000 passengers have the virus.
The number of cases took the ship to tier three status, which means authorities consider it a high risk.
"This is a 12-day voyage and we started to see elevated cases about halfway through," said P&O Cruises Australia president Marguerite Fitzgerald.
A group of seven were celebrating several birthdays onboard, but they sailed into Sydney sick and some in the party hadn't avoided COVID-19.
In a well-rehearsed routine, ambulances ferried the sickest to hospital and the others were told to go home and isolate.
"All of the COVID-positive cases onboard are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic," Fitzgerald said.
Australia is facing a fourth wave of COVID-19. With no rules there to isolate when positive, some states have been reintroducing rules to wear masks. But under national cruise ship rules, no one is allowed onboard without being vaccinated and without a negative test. So how this outbreak started is a mystery.
Some passengers on board were nervous that positive cases were found.
"I'm 82 and I was a little bit worried, yes," one person said.
While another said they felt safe since they'd had four COVID-19 vaccinations.
But it's served as a reminder that COVID-19 isn't behind us.
