A huge cruise ship that has docked in Edinburgh with the aim of housing 700 Ukrainian refugees could pose the risk of a Covid outbreak onboard, health experts have warned.
Hundreds of refugees fleeing the conflict with Russia will soon be given a place to stay, except it won't be on dry land. The huge cruise ship arrived in Leith on July 13 ahead of welcoming hundreds of Ukrainians onboard.
The MS Victoria I was commissioned by the Scottish Government and can accommodate up to 2,500 passengers, and boasts over 700 cabins. Prior to the ship's latest commission, the vessel sailed through the Baltic sea on leisure trips.
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However, The Scottish Sun reports how around 700 people crammed into the ship could pose the risk of a Covid outbreak, similar to the situation before the pandemic began, where dozens of ships were afloat on the Scottish coast to quarantine passengers.
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Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, said: “It’s a very risky move. The number of outbreaks of Covid that happened on ships is very large.
“I would say there’s a real risk that if Covid gets into that ship and there’s a fairly large number of people on board, you might have quite a big outbreak. It’s not just an issue of being on a passenger ship, it’s the close proximity people have. The ventilation system on the ship may have something to do with it as well.
“Somebody might be in a confined space but breathing out and the air gets round. You can’t really ask people to sit there with the doors all closed. I think they are running a very real risk.”
Professor Pennington said that previous restrictions seen in Scotland such as vaccination checks, face coverings and testing should all be the 'bare minimum' being carried out to ensure the safety of passengers.
He also warned symptomless patients could carry the virus aboard without noticing and urged the Government not to house vulnerable people over the age of 65.
He added: “I suppose the main problem is that you’ve got these people that you’ve got to put somewhere. I think they’d be bloody lucky to avoid having the outbreak on the ship with Omicron as it is and Scotland being the number one in the UK in terms of infections.”
Up to 10,000 Ukrainians are understood to have arrived in Scotland since Russia’s invasion in February. The Scottish Government recently announced that approximately 730 of them will live aboard MS Victoria after shelving their flagship “super sponsor scheme”.
The solution is meant to be temporary while permanent housing is being made ready. Ukraine’s consul general in Scotland warned Nicola Sturgeon that refugees should not be left to languish in cabins.
Yevhen Mankovskyi, who is planning to inspect the ship next week, said: “I don’t want people to live for six months on the ship, no one wants this.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Safeguarding the health of displaced people on the passenger ship is our priority, as it is in other temporary accommodation such as hotels.
“We are closely monitoring the spread of Covid in Scotland and will liaise closely with Public Health colleagues to monitor any risks of contracting Covid within the passenger ship.”
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