Experts have suggested that cruise ships ‘contributed’ to the spread of coronavirus around the world.
ITV documentary Billion Pound Cruises explored how the cruise industry played a part in the pandemic as they continued to travel during the beginning of the crisis – with thousands infected on board.
Millions of people around the world have been infected by Covid-19, with the death toll in the UK almost at 40,000.
Taylor Dolven, business reporter at the Miami Herald, explained the health scare has also had a huge impact on the travel business, which is now ‘on its knees’.
‘We’ve confirmed that at least 2,700 people have been infected who have travelled on cruise ships. At least 74 people have died,’ she said.
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‘Cruises that had the virus on board and continued to cruise contributed to the spread of the virus around the world.
‘Because there’s such a high turnover of people, it’s difficult to screen for a virus like this, which is so infectious.
‘We don’t yet know how the coronavirus made its way onto so many cruise ships, but what we do know is the constant interchange of people and densely packed environments really creates a perfect storm.’
Expert, Dr Bharat Pankhania – former Public Health England Infectious Diseases Expert – broke down in tears as he insisted cruise bosses had always planned for crises – but never expected something like this to happen.
‘In the confined area of a ship, we have people moving around, air flows, sewage systems, air conditioning, all in a very confined place.
‘It spreads like wildfire through that cruise-liner.
‘I never thought I would ever see this in my life. It’s the sort of thing you plan for, but never expect to see.’
He sobbed: ’It’s so upsetting. You plan for these things, but you don’t want to be in a hopeless situation where people are dying.’
Billion Pound Cruises is available to stream on ITVHub.
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