According to new regulations released by the Victorian Government, all cruise ship passengers above the age of 12 must be at least thrice immunized, and all staff members must be triple immunized as well.
Unvaccinated children under the age of 12 and anybody with a documented medical exemption are permitted to sail under the rules, although they must not account for more than five percent of the ship’s passengers.
The passengers will also have to test negative before embarking, and if they board with symptoms, they will have to provide another negative PCR test the next day.
More information may be found at: Cruise ships preparing for their return to Australia.
Crews will conduct tests every 14 days or if there is a symptom.
The guidelines are consistent with those in place in New South Wales and Queensland, and they come ahead of the termination of Australia’s cruise ship embargo later this month.
Other requirements include a requirement that all crew members wear masks.
All passengers will be required to wear masks throughout the embarkation and disembarkation process, as well as when inside the ship if social separation is not practicable.
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After reaching the height of Omicron BA.2 and seeing a plateau in the number of cases, Health Minister Martin Foley said that the state government will begin to examine all health directives.
According to him, “we presently have the smallest number of restrictions in place since the outbreak began, and the rational settings that are currently in place may be revisited after the peak in cases.”
Our COVIDSafe guidelines will safeguard employees, passengers, and the towns and sites that will host cruise ship excursions when cruise ships resume service later this year, which is fantastic news for our tourism industry.