Team Herald
VASCO: A cruise ship with 500 crew members including 100 Goans that anchored off Goa coast will be sent to Mumbai, where the Goan seafarers will be disembarked and quarantined for the next 14 days and later brought back to Goa by buses.
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“Once in Goa they will be quarantined for another 14 or 21 days and tested for COVID-19,” said Minister for RDA and Ports, Michael Lobo.
After the news of the cruise ship awaiting permission to dock at MPT, which went viral, Lobo clarified that the Indian seafarers were residents of Goa and there was no cruise ship “Carnica” by Jalesh Cruises Mauritius.
He said this ship was carrying Goan seafarers who are working as accountant, junior accountant, barmen, cooks, chefs, assistant cooks and floor supervisors.
“To bring these people directly to Goa we do not have the authority. MHA has put up some guidelines and they have to follow protocol,” he said.
Lobo said, “They will be disembarked in Mumbai. These people will have to get down in Mumbai and they will be quarantined for 14 days. They will have to be quarantined in the Mumbai facility and after 14 days they will be given a fitness certificate by those authorities that they are negative for COVID-19″.
Lobo said, “The Goa government will send buses to pick them from Mumbai and again after bringing them to Goa, they will be re-tested for COVID-19. After that they will have to stay quarantined in their houses for another 14 to 21 days this is the protocol to be followed. We cannot allow this ship to come to MPT or to Goa.
“The ship’s request letter had come to the Captain of Ports. The letter was sent to the secretary and chief secretary and later to my office. We had a meeting with the chief secretary and the Chief Minister on this issue, as these people could not directly be allowed in Goa. To quarantine the 100 people in Goa we don’t have the capacity and other protocols”, said Lobo.
“Therefore their disembarkment is in Mumbai. They have the permission to go to Mumbai. The Goan seafarers directly wanted to get down in Goa, but right now we do not have that facility here,” he said.
The minister informed that 100 crew members are Goans. There are 500 crew members some of them are from Mumbai. We will immediately communicate to the cruise ship that they will have to follow the protocol and MHA guidelines.
Lobo said, “If the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gives us any other guidelines we will talk to the Prime Minister on April 11, asking that a chartered flight can directly land in Goa bringing our Goan seafarers and we will have to directly quarantine them in Goa,” he said.
“The Goa government has taken hotels, government schools, and higher secondary school premises for the quarantine facility, but so far we have not started the facilities in these premises. This will depend whether MHA will allow us to put up these facilities in these premises for the seafarers when they come down to Goa,” Lobo added.
