More than 1000 crew members are in quarantine on the cruise ship Ruby Princess after 133 passengers (107 in New South Wales and 26 interstate) have tested positive for Covid-19 upon disembarking the ship in Sydney’s Circular Quay on Thursday 19 March. 

Ruby Princess is currently at anchor near Sydney as the situation on board is critical with a sharp rise of isolated crew members. According to our source, there are around 700 out of 1051 crew isolated right now on the ship.

Ruby Princess captain, Commodore Giorgio Pomata, announced over the PA system that the number of crew reporting to the ship’s medical facility is increasing each day. There is no port in the world that will accept Rubi Princess in this condition he said. That’s why all crew members need to follow the strict safety guidelines at this time.

A crew member wishing to remain anonymous said "There are more than 700 persons isolated in separate cabins, but there are no tests on board so nobody knows the number of real infected persons. Healthy crew members are currently delivering food to the cabins of the sick or isolated ones. They are wearing masks and gloves. 

The medical team on-board, formed of 3 doctors and 3 nurses, is already overwhelmed and they react with delays to the requests of the affected persons. If the situation degenerates, there are no facilities to keep it under control.

There is no information about when will the quarantine end since there were cases of sick persons reported each day. Asymptomatic persons might be amongst the healthy ones, who have to take turns in preparing and delivering food for the isolated ones. We are being well treated but everybody is fearing there is not enough support from local authorities.

We are waiting on the Australian Health Authorities to help us, and limit the spread of the virus among all persons onboard as the situation is very bad."

All the facilities are closed and everybody is in separate passenger cabins now. Today there was an announcement that a boat with much-needed provisions will arrive.