- Title: Portugal starts repatriation of passengers stuck on cruise ship
- Date: 24th March 2020
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (MARCH 24, 2020) (REUTERS) CRUISE PASSENGERS NEXT TO BUSES VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WITH MASKS NEXT TO BUSES WAITING TO CHECK DOCUMENTS VARIOUS OF LUGGAGE ON PORT PASSENGERS WAITING TO GET ON BUSES BUSES PARKED NEXT TO CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER WEARING MASK INSIDE BUS BUS DRIVER WEARING MASK BUS WAITING TO LEAVE PASSENGERS INSIDE BUS WEARING MASKS POLICE MAN WEARING PROTECTIVE SUIT CRUISE DOCKED CRUISE BRIDGE CREW MEMBERS WEARING MASKS BUSES AT PORT BUSES PREPARING TO LEAVE PORT POLICE VAN ESCORTING BUSES OUT OF PORT POLICE VANS AND BUSES ON THE WAY TO AIRPORT
- Embargoed: 7th April 2020 11:33
- Keywords: Brazil Lisbon coronavirus in Portugal cruise
- Location: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- City: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C6EWEO7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:More than 1,000 passengers aboard a cruise ship docked in Portugal's capital Lisbon will be flown back to their home countries on Tuesday (March 24) even though a fellow passenger tested positive for coronavirus, the interior ministry said.
Images showed passengers being taken to the airport by bus. Repatriation flights will take off throughout the day from Lisbon to Germany, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The flights have capacity for 1,140 of the 1,299 people still on board the ship. It is not clear when and if the remaining 159 will be repatriated.
The 39 Portuguese citizens and residency permit holders on board were given the green light to disembark on Monday (March 23).
To tackle the spread of the coronavirus, cruise ships are no longer allowed to disembark foreign passengers.
The final destination of the ship, which left Rio de Janeiro on March 9 and can carry 4,363 passengers and 1,370 crew, had been Genoa in Italy, which is the European country worst affected by the virus.
Portugal has reported 2,060 cases of coronavirus and 23 deaths, far fewer than the numbers in Italy and Spain.
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