Cruise ship carrying 1,700 people leaves Bordeaux after norovirus quarantine
Outbreak left more than 50 passengers ill, alongside unrelated death of Briton, 92
The ship is now continuing onwards to northern Spain
Peter Titmuss/Shutterstock
A cruise ship with more than 1,700 passengers has left Bordeaux’s port this morning (May 15) after being quarantined following an onboard norovirus outbreak.
The ‘Ambition’ entered the city’s port on Tuesday (May 12) after a 92-year old British passenger on board died and 50 others were struck down by illness.
The Gironde prefect temporarily refused the crew and passengers – mostly British and Irish citizens – to disembark and enter the city, until the source of the illness was confirmed by Bordeaux’s centre for infectious diseases.
Subsequent tests showed it was an outbreak of norovirus. The passenger’s death was unrelated to the outbreak and was caused by a heart attack.
Late on Wednesday (May 13) asymptomatic passengers were allowed to disembark while affected passengers remained isolated on board and further sanitation measures were put in place.
The Ambition was authorised to leave Bordeaux’s port on Thursday evening, however a planned departure at 18:00 was rescheduled due to weather conditions.
The vessel eventually departed on May 15 at around 06:00. It is due to head onwards towards scheduled stops in northern Spain, before returning to the UK.
Hantavirus concerns
The outbreak occurred amid international headlines surrounding an outbreak of Andes-strain hantavirus, identified on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
This led to precautionary measures taken by the Gironde prefecture – however, any link to the hantavirus outbreak was quickly ruled out before tests confirmed the presence of norovirus.
Five French nationals evacuated from the ship and 22 identified ‘contact cases’ linked to flights taken by a Dutch woman who later died of the disease are currently being monitored or are in isolation across France.
One of the French nationals has tested positive and remains in a severe condition, while the identified contact cases have so far continued to test negative.
