The Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado, defends the relaxation of the rules governing Covid-19’s control on cruise trips to allow the resumption of vessels.
Clia Brasil, the association that represents cruise ship companies in the country, announced the suspension of new operations in Brazilian ports until January 21st.
Machado claims that the government should adopt a milder protocol for the omicron variant, which, in the minister’s view, does not generate as much impact as other forms of the virus.
“It is necessary to adjust (the ordinance) with the omicron, because it is not generating pressure in hospitals. But the word belongs to the Minister of Health. I hope that this understanding exists,” he told the leaf this Monday (3).
Preliminary studies indicate that omicron causes less severe conditions even in the elderly, but it is more contagious. Even with these data, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) is asking for even tougher restrictions and the suspension of the cruise season.
“The Agency’s recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk of damage to the health of passengers and the unpredictability of operations at this time,” says the agency’s statement published on Sunday (2).
Anvisa’s recommendation is still being evaluated by the government. At a meeting this Monday, ministry representatives decided not to change the rules on vessels, at least for now, under the argument that the cruise companies themselves anticipated and announced the suspension of new trips.
For Machado, the government should increase the percentage tolerated by the government of Covid cases among passengers before declaring an outbreak and imposing restrictions on the ship. The requirement for vaccination and negative tests, made by cruise companies, should continue, says the minister.
The proposal of the head of Tourism is resisted by government members and should not be accepted. The reading is that it would be more efficient to guarantee that the current rules are complied with by all the federation bodies. Government officials defend that municipalities that should accept the disembarkation of passengers who tested positive on cruises, for example.
An ordinance from the Ministry of Health, in effect since the end of October last year, defines four epidemiological levels for waterway transport trips and protocols to be followed.
If there are cases of Covid-19 in a number equal to or above 0.1% of the total number of passengers on board, the ship enters level 3, when the government considers that there is an outbreak of the virus in the area.
At level 4, when there is community transmission or large occupation of medical beds and isolation places, Anvisa places the vessel in quarantine and can prevent new embarkations, as it did with two of the five current cruises in the country.
After the sector’s decision to suspend activities, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, said that the companies complied with government rules. “We had an ordinance that provided security for the situation on cruises and provided for situations like that of having Covid cases, there was already all the regulations. If the cruise companies are doing this, naturally they are observing what it says in the ordinance and the safety of those who hire these tours,” he said on Monday.
Anvisa recommended on December 31 the suspension of all maritime cruises for the evaluation of the epidemiological scenario. The agency also suspended the activity of two vessels that reported an outbreak of Covid.
According to the regulatory agency, the recommendation to interrupt the voyages was due to the sudden increase in cases of Covid-19 infection detected on vessels operating cruises and also due to the omicron variant.
Passengers reported, on social networks, lack of food and cleaning on cruises that had activities interrupted by an outbreak of Covid.
“In recent weeks, the two affected cruise lines have experienced a number of situations that have directly impacted ship operations, making continuing to cruise at this time impractical,” CLIA said in a statement.
The organization said it regretted the suspension of new activities and stated that the sanitary protocols were working. CLIA also said that the cruise season was expected to move more than 360,000 tourists, with an impact of R$1.7 billion.
.
