Skip to main content

23 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Portuguese fishing ship anchored off N.L. coast

A sailboat sails by the Princesa Santa Joana, a Portuguese fishing boat anchored in Conception Bay, N.L., Thursday, July 15, 2021. Health officials are today confirming 23 new COVID-19 cases among the crew of a Portuguese fishing vessel anchored off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Provincial health authorities say 31 crew members aboard the Princesa Santa Joana have now tested positive for the disease, including one seafarer who is in hospital. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly) A sailboat sails by the Princesa Santa Joana, a Portuguese fishing boat anchored in Conception Bay, N.L., Thursday, July 15, 2021. Health officials are today confirming 23 new COVID-19 cases among the crew of a Portuguese fishing vessel anchored off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Provincial health authorities say 31 crew members aboard the Princesa Santa Joana have now tested positive for the disease, including one seafarer who is in hospital. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly)
Share
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -

Health officials are confirming 23 new COVID-19 cases among the crew of a Portuguese fishing vessel anchored off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador on Thursday.

Provincial health authorities say 31 crew members aboard the Princesa Santa Joana have now tested positive for the disease, including one seafarer who is in hospital.

Karl Risser, an Atlantic Canadian inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation, told The Canadian Press Wednesday there are 39 people on board the ship.

Meanwhile, 14 crew members tested positive last week for COVID-19 aboard a bitumen tanker, the Iver Ambition, which is anchored near the fishing vessel, and public health officials said today that number remains unchanged.

Both vessels are in Conception Bay, about 25 kilometres west of St. John's.

In May, a bulk carrier owned by Fednav, an international shipping company headquartered in Quebec, also anchored in the bay and waited out COVID-19 infections among 14 of its crew members.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2021.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'

The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.

Stay Connected