Amid concerns about the spread of Ebola to the Caribbean, there is the growing fear that the virus could enter the region through its sea ports, via cruise ships.
Belize yesterday refused entry to a cruise ship carrying an unnamed Texas hospital worker who may have handled Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s specimen. Two nurses who cared for Duncan tested positive for Ebola. The Belize Coast Guard did not let the vessel or any of its thousands of passengers into port.
“The Government of Belize was contacted today by officers of the U.S. government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola,” the government of Belize said Thursday in a statement. “Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the government of Belize decided not to facilitate a U.S. request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport.”
The government further said yesterday that it is no longer issuing visas to travellers from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the West African countries with confirmed cases of the Ebola virus.
Belizean Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse yesterday said that, under a new immigration protocol, visitors from those countries could no longer enter Belize.
Mexico also blanks ship
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital healthworker in question and a partner boarded the ship October 12 in Galveston, Texas, before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the requirement for active monitoring, the State Department said in a statement.
“It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed” Duncan’s fluid samples, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement yesterday morning. “The cruise line has actively supported CDC’s efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship’s medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health. Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin.”
Authorities had earlier said the health worker was “quarantined”.
The Carnival cruise ship was also denied entry into Mexico, according to a Carnival spokeswoman. The ship yesterday headed back to the United States after Mexican authorities failed to grant it permission to dock off the coast of Cozumel.
A Mexican port authority official said the ship was denied clearance to avoid any possible risk from Ebola.
“It is the first time that this has happened, and it was decided the ship should not dock as a preventative measure against Ebola,” Erce Barron, port authority director in Quintana Roo, told Reuters.
The Carnival Magic had been waiting off the Mexican coast since yesterday morning for its scheduled port visit. Mexican authorities still hadn’t given clearance by noon, so the ship continued to its home port of Galveston, Texas, where it is due back tomorrow.
The health worker, a lab supervisor who has not been named, has shown no symptoms of the disease but remains on board and in voluntary isolation, according to Carnival.
“We greatly regret that this situation, which was completely beyond our control, precluded the ship from making its scheduled visit to Cozumel and the resulting disappointment it has caused our guests,” read a statement from Carnival.
The Carnival Magic is operated by Carnival Corp unit Carnival Cruise Lines.—Sources: Reuters, National Post
