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Ponant ship prepares to set sail after positive Covid tests
The yacht-cruise ship Jacques Cartier is setting sail for France this afternoon after being docked in Italy for five days following a coronavirus outbreak on board.
The 60 passengers and 93 crew had been anchored in the Sicilian port of Syracuse since Monday, when two cases of coronavirus were reported.
On Wednesday, the number of positive tests had increased to three passengers and eight crew.
The cruise company said passengers were immediately placed in isolation in their cabins and none of those who tested positive showed any critical symptoms.
It added two more people had tested positive for Covid-19 today.
One passenger told Le Monde newspaper: "It started at our first stopover last Monday
"We were arriving from Malta, departing from the cruise, and were due to disembark in Syracuse, when, without explanation, we were denied access to land.
"We ended up learning at midday that there were two cases of Covid in the crew.
"Then, that evening at dinner, a couple experienced the first symptoms and presented to the doctor."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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