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British Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases to Dock in Cuba

by Arnold August 

The ship MS Braemar has been desperately searching for a place to dock after multiple countries have denied it assistance.

Cuba will allow a British cruise ship stranded in the Caribbean to dock with at least five cases of Covid-19 on board, after multiple countries in the region denied its assistance.

In the last few hours, the British ship MS Braemar has been desperately searching for a place to dock, after at least five passengers tested positive for Covid-19.

“No country has authorized the docking. Only Cuba would do such a thing,” CNN Havana correspondent Patrick Oppmann, who spread the news, wrote on his Twitter account.

Oppmann added that, according to a diplomatic source in Cuba, “the Caribbean island understands the situation of these passengers.”

Just in: Cuba has said it is willing to receive the stranded Braemar cruise ship and “comprehends the difficult situation these passengers find themselves in,” a diplomatic source in Cuba tells CNN. At least five people aboard have tested positive for the coronavirus. 1/2

Cuba has said it will allow the ship to dock here out of “humanitarian concerns” and the need for “a shared effort to confront and stop the pandemic.” Discussions are still ongoing but passengers say they hope to get off the ship as soon as possible

Cuba will authorize the docking because of “humanitarian concerns. Those infected must be treated and the spread of infection must be stopped. The pandemic will only end with everyone’s effort,” Oppmann said.

The Caribbean nation has since announced that the British cruise ship will dock at its harbor; thus, ending its odyssey in search of a port to dock at. 

“Following request from #UK government, #Cuba has authorized docking of cruise ship MS Braemar with small number of passengers testing positive for #Covid-19. Sanitary measures established in WHO and @MINSAPCuba protocols will be implemented to receive passengers and crew,”  Cuban President Bruno Rodriguez tweeted. 

The MS Braemar, which belongs to the British company Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, carries 682 passengers and 381 crew members. 

Among them, four passengers and one crew member tested positive, while another 40 are quarantined for cold symptoms.

The passengers are mostly British, but also include Canadian, Australian, Belgian, Colombian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, New Zealand, Norwegian and Swedish citizens.