Speaking to Lusa agency, the captain of the Port of Lisbon and local commander of the Lisbon Maritime Police, Diogo Vieira Branco, explained that today another 12 positive cases of Covid-19 were detected, between eight crew and four passengers, in addition to the 52 cases flagged in recent days that led the ship to be moored in the Portuguese capital.

According to Diogo Vieira Branco, the fact that the Italian-flagged cruise ship did not leave today, as scheduled, does not mean that the situation is out of control: "Because it isn't."

Vieira Branco said that these 12 people are isolated and undergoing quarantine on the ship, and revealed that the company responsible for the cruise has decided to terminate it and carry out an air connection operation for all passengers.

This operation will be carried out during the day of Monday, with all passengers to be removed from the ship and taken to Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon.

According to the captain of the port, there is still no defined date for the departure of the ship.

However, until the air connection operation, passengers who want to leave the ship can do so, as long as they present a negative Covid-19 test.

The 52 infected people who had previously been removed from the ship to hotels in the city of Lisbon will remain in these hotels until the end of the quarantine period.

The cruise ship “AIDA Nova” arrived in Lisbon on December 29, 2021, with 4,197 people on board, including 1,353 crew and 2,844 passengers, of various nationalities, mostly German.

On that day, 14 Covid-19 positive cases were detected, a number that increased to 52 the following day, on December 30, and these people were taken from the ship to hotels in Lisbon, all vaccinated and asymptomatic or with mild symptoms of the disease.

On December 31, the health authorities gave authorization for the ship to leave, but the shipowner chose to stay until January 2, the day the ship would then sail to Lanzarote, Spain.