Nearly 3,000 passengers continued to be evacuated from a German cruise ship in Lisbon on Monday following an outbreak of the coronavirus onboard the liner, which was due to travel to the Canary Islands.
Holidaymakers disembarked the AIDAnova ship at the Portuguese capital’s cruise port and were taken by bus to the city’s airport.
At least 64 people tested positive for the virus while on the ship, which is owned by the German company Aida Cruises.
The cruise had originally arrived in Lisbon on December 29, with 4,197 people on board.
Speaking to the Portuguese Lusa news agency, the Lisbon Port captain explained another 12 cases of COVID-19 were detected on Sunday, between eight crew and four passengers, in addition to the 52 cases flagged in recent days.
Portuguese health authorities gave authorisation for the ship to leave on December 31, but the ship’s owner chose to stay until January 2, the day it was due to sail to the Spanish island of Lanzarote.
