Cuba helps cruise ship’s crew and passengers get back to UK

IN THE midst of all the panic and misinformation about the COVID-19 crisis, let us try and wrap our heads around this: “On Wednesday morning (March 18) the British cruise ship MS Braemaar, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, docked at the port of Mariel, in the province of Artemis (Cuba), with five positive cases of the new coronavirus among its 682 passengers and 381 crew members.

“Health authorities on the Caribbean island recently announced that Cuba has the necessary resources to transfer passengers to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. The more than 1000 crew members will travel back to the United Kingdom on four charter flights. Those infected will be transferred on the last of the planes.

“The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary expressed his gratitude to Cuba before the British Parliament for authorizing the docking of the ship.

“Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla announced on Monday that he was willing to receive the cruise ship in his territorial waters after multiple Caribbean countries denied him help in bringing infected passengers and about 40 under suspicion.”(Taken from Telesur. net , March 18, 2020)