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COVID-19

Norwegian cruise line executive suspended after virus outbreak

Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten said Friday it had asked a top executive to step aside, after a coronavirus outbreak on one of its ships led to suspended operations and a police investigation.

Published: 7 August 2020 16:57 CEST
Norwegian cruise line executive suspended after virus outbreak
The Hurtigruten ship Roald Amundsen in Tromsø on August 3rd. Photo: AFP

The Arctic cruise operator has been in hot water after an outbreak of COVID-19 was recorded on the MS Roald Amundsen.

“On the initiative of Hurtigruten, Bent Martini is temporarily stepping down from the positions as chairman of the board and as managing director,” CEO of Hurtigruten, Daniel Skjeldam said in a statement.

“Temporarily, he will also step down from Hurtigruten's management,” Skjeldam added.

Hurtigruten said it had hired a law firm and an independent auditor “to conduct a full investigation of the incident”.

On Monday, Norwegian police confirmed they had opened an investigation into the matter.

 

As of Friday 62 people — 41 among the largely Filipino crew and 21 passengers — have tested positive after two July cruises between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic circle.

Martini told Norwegian media that he was on board the MS Roald Amundsen, on holiday with his family, when it docked in Tromsø in northern Norway last Friday.

However, he did not comment on whether he was aware of the outbreak while on board.

The operator has suspended all cruises, apart from its coastal ferries, after a preliminary investigation had shown failures in several “internal procedures”.

The company was also attacked for being slow to inform the 386 passengers who had travelled on the Amundsen after the first case was confirmed.

Hurtigruten was one of the first players to resume its activities in a cruise sector heavily affected by the pandemic.

READ ALSO: Norway tightens rules for cruise passengers after ship outbreak 

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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