Evacuation of cruise with 5 COVID-19 cases starts in Cuba

The almost 700 passengers on board the British cruise ship MS Braemar, with at least five confirmed coronavirus cases, have started disembarking at the Cuban port of Mariel.

The passengers will be transported on buses to an airport terminal in Havana where they will board four charter flights made available by the British government that will take them to London's Heathrow Airport while the majority of the vessel's 381 crewmembers will remain on board to return the ship to its home port.

The five people confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus will also be evacuated from the ship, a UK diplomatic official confirmed to Efe news on Wednesday.

Besides the five confirmed cases , there are 28 travellers and another 27 crewmembers - among them a doctor - who have been isolated after experiencing flu-like symptoms, which are virtually identical to symptoms of the virus.

Participating in the disembarkation and transport operation is a caravan of buses and ambulances that will head directly to a Havana airport terminal that does not regularly handle commercial flights.

During the disembarkation on Wednesday, dozens of passengers congregated on the decks and along the railings of the ship waving, throwing kisses and displaying signs thanking Cuba for allowing the vessel to dock, after several other Caribbean ports refused to allow the vessel to obtain access.

Earlier this week, The Bahamas allowed the ship to anchor about 25 miles offshore so that it could be resupplied with food, fuel and medicines.

According to state-run Cuban media, the docking of the vessel at Mariel was undertaken "complying with the health measures established by the World Health Organization and the Public Health Ministry".

The Braemar entered the port at dawn, but the disembarkation did not commence until a few hours later at about 1 p.m.

On board the ship are 682 passengers, most of them tourists from Italy, Colombia, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Japan.

Britain's ambassador to Cuba, Anthony Stokes, said he was "very grateful" to the island's government for allowing the cruise ship to dock and for cooperating with his country in the evacuation of the passengers after a "difficult and uncertain" journey.

He said that Britain was determined to protect the health of passengers, the crew, Cubans and everyone who is working on the disembarkation, the diplomat added in a video he posted on the UK Embassy's Twitter account.

"On the issue of cruises, we've been working intensively with the Cuban authorities to ensure that all of the British nationals are able to return quickly and safely to the UK within the next 48 hours," UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

"We are very grateful to the Cuban government for swiftly enabling this operation and for their close cooperation to make sure it could be successful," he added.

The evacuation comes on the same day that Cuba reported its first coronavirus death: a 63-year-old Italian tourist who was one of the first three cases detected on the island.

According to the latest report from the Cuban Public Health ministry, there nine cases have been confirmed - 10, if one counts the man who died - on the island and 389 people have been hospitalized for observation after displaying flu-like symptoms.