BTB: Covid Cases on Cruise Ship Not a Threat to Belize

Since reopening in July, cruise tourism has been off to a slow start, with only one ship docking per week in the Belize City Harbour. Today, however, the Belize Tourism Board responded to reports that the Carnival Vista which arrived this morning with almost three thousand guests had twenty-six crew members and one passenger infected with COVID. The B.T.B. says Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler and his team met virtually with officials from the Carnival Vista on Tuesday. They were told strict protocols were put in place on the ship to contain the spread and infected people isolated. The B.T.B. determined these persons did not pose a threat to guests, crew, or frontline workers in Belize and reported that ninety-nine percent of the ship’s crew have been vaccinated, while ninety-six percent of its passengers had received at least the first jab. B.T.B. says that added protocols were put in place for today’s tours involving passengers from that ship. After consultation with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, all passengers that had a negative COVID-19 test were asked to provide proof of their negative status, and for those that did not have such proof, they were subject to random testing. The Ministry also carried out an inspection of the protocols onboard the Carnival Vista and was satisfied. B.T.B. says passengers will not be allowed to disembark if the total number of positive cases exceeds two percent of the ship’s passengers.