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HEALTH

Second major cruise line resumes post-lockdown sailing in Italy

Costa Cruises returned to Italian waters this week, with the Costa Deliziosa setting sail from the Adriatic port of Trieste after a coronavirus furlough of more than five months.

Published: 7 September 2020 12:13 CEST
Second major cruise line resumes post-lockdown sailing in Italy
The Costa Deliziosa docked in Barcelona on its last voyage in April. Photo: AFP
The ship is heading for southern Italy and will call at Bari, Brindisi, Corigliano-Rossano, Siracusa and Catania, according to a press release.
 
Carrying only Italian residents as part of its precautions against Covid-19 contagion, its weeklong outing will follow an all-Italy itinerary of Adriatic
and Mediterranean ports.
 
Following a strict protocol, passengers had their temperatures taken, were tested for Covid-19 and completed a health questionnaire before being allowed
on board.
 
The crew had been tested for the virus and spent 14 days in quarantine before the departure.
 
Social distancing rules also meant the elimination of the traditional dinner buffet, and the use of restaurants, bars and swimming pools
will be carefully scheduled to limit numbers.
 
Staff scan cruise pasengers' temperatures ahead of boarding. Photo: AFP
 
The coronavirus pandemic visited an unprecedented crisis on the cruise ship industry, which had been enjoying robust growth since 2018.
 
Not only were operators forced to ground their ships, but they faced accusations of botching the handling of the epidemic in its early stages.
 
Cruise lines are hoping that tighter protocols will allow them to control the still-lingering threat of coronavirus aboard their ships while still
offering travellers a worthwhile cruise experience.
 
Several of Costa's rivals have already returned to sea. Italian operator MSC Cruises was the first to set sail again in Italy as the MSC Grandiosa left the northwest port of Genoa on August 16th, also for a weeklong cruise.
 
 
 
Italy represents the bulk of Europe's cruise industry, reaping 14.5 billion euros of revenue per year ($17 billion) and supporting nearly 53,000 jobs, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
 
The industry faces rough waters as it tries to lure back cruisers, who tend to be older and thus more vulnerable to Covid-19.
 
Costa Cruises in particular faces a public relations nightmare, with 180 complaints lodged against the company by French passengers including for manslaughter from the families of three who died of Covid-19.
 
The Costa Deliziosa also made headlines last year when it came close to hitting a dock in Venice during a storm.
 
Venice is typically a highlight of Italian cruises, receiving more than a million passengers a year. But as sailing resumes it doesn't look set be the starting point, destination or even a stopover for any ships operated by Italy's biggest cruise companies.
 
The news that cruise ships will stay away has been hailed as a victory by anti-cruise campaigners in Venice, but it's not yet clear why operators are steering clear, or for how long.
 
Costa Cruises’ next ship due back in service is the Costa Diadema, scheduled to leave from Genoa on September 19th.
 
It too will only be calling at Italian ports and carrying guests from Italy, with stopovers in Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari and La Spezia.

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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