BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian Association of Cruise Ships (Clia Brasil) has decided to voluntarily suspend cruises in the country until January 21 due to Covid-19 outbreaks registered on the vessels, and may cancel the operation this summer if there is no an alignment with the authorities, informed the organization on Monday.
“During this break, Clia is working, on behalf of the cruise companies operating in the country –MSC Cruzeiros and Costa Cruises– to seek alignment with the federal government authorities, Anvisa, States and municipalities in the destinations we operate in relation to interpretations and applications of the operational health and safety protocols that had been approved at the beginning of the current season, in November”, the association said in a statement.
According to Clia, in recent weeks companies were affected by “several situations” that made it impossible to continue operations.
At night, the government released a note in which it confirmed the suspension of operations of cruise activities, and said that the measure was decided upon in a meeting this morning with companies in the sector.
“There was also, in the afternoon, a meeting with Health Secretaries of States and municipalities to discuss the current operational plan for the cruise activity in view of the increase in cases of the Ômicron variant of the Sars-Cov-2 in vessels on the Brazilian coast, even that, in its entirety, mild or asymptomatic”, he said.
“The federal government will continue, in the coming days, to promote meetings with municipalities, states and companies to, together, reassess the possibility of returning to activities”, reinforced the statement, signed by the Civil House, Health, Infrastructure, Justice and Tourism folders .
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Last week, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) had recommended the temporary suspension of the cruise season after the five ships operating in Brazil registered more than 300 cases of Covid-19.
On Monday night, Anvisa released a new statement in which it highlighted that the epidemiological scenario on board the vessels motivated the recommendation to suspend operations. The agency said 798 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on cruises from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3, 60% of them in crew.
“Anvisa reinforces that, since August 2021, it had already manifested itself by the impossibility of resuming the cruise ship season in Brazil, which should be conditioned to the evaluation of the country’s epidemiological scenario”, he informed.
According to the entity responsible for cruises, the temporary and voluntary suspension takes place with immediate effect for new departures and no guest will be boarded until January 21st. Current cruises will finalize their itineraries as planned.
On Friday, Anvisa recommended to the Ministry of Health the suspension of the cruise ship season, on a preventive basis, until data is available on the situation. According to the agency, there was a sudden increase in cases of Covid on vessels and there is also a risk of transmission in national territory of the Ômicron variant.
People on these ships were even prevented from disembarking on Brazilian soil and there were ships that had their activities suspended throughout Friday.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Lisandra ParaguassuEdition by Alexandre Caverni and Pedro Fonseca)
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