COVID-19 pandemic
As of 26 March 2020, Artania was anchored off the coast of Western Australia. Health authorities reported seven confirmed coronavirus cases on board. Due to measures taken by the Government of Western Australia to contain the outbreak and, as there were no Australian passengers or crew on board, Artania was required to anchor offshore as Commonwealth forces were organised to refuel and resupply the ship before it departed. The vessel is registered in the Bahamas, and therefore was considered as a foreign vessel.[16]
Artania docked at Fremantle Harbour, Fremantle, on 27 March, and on 28 March 46 people were reported as displaying COVID-19 symptoms.[17] Most of the 850 passengers flew home from Perth Airport to Germany on 28–29 March. 41 passengers and crew tested positive for COVID-19 and were treated in Perth private hospitals such as in Joondalup Health Campus.[18][19] On 1 April, the ship had 450 crew and about a dozen passengers on board. The Australian Government had directed it to leave port, but the ship demanded to stay another 14 days, presumably so that they could be treated if COVID-19 symptoms developed.[20] According to the Australian Attorney-General, Christian Porter, "there are still 12 passengers on board some of whom are very unwell. And their level of either illness or frailty is such that they cannot get in a plane."[21]
An update on 3 April 2020 by CNN stated that the cruise line indicated that "16 passengers, plus hundreds of crew members" remained aboard Artania.[22] As of 7 April, two passengers aboard Artania had died from COVID-19, both in Joondalup private hospital.[23][24] On 17 April, a Filipino crewman of the ship died in the Royal Perth Hospital, the youngest to date fatality in Australia due to COVID-19.[25] On 23 April, it was reported that another passenger of the ship had died from the disease in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, another public hospital of Perth.[26]
The outbreak from the ship was responsible for 4 deaths in Western Australia and at least 81 confirmed cases were linked to the ship.[27]
The ship departed Fremantle on 18 April.[28] The ship planned to stop at Indonesia and the Philippines[29] to disembark crew members and then return to Bremerhaven, Germany[25] with the 8 passengers and a skeleton crew of 75 crew members.[30]
The ship arrived at the Port of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Indonesia on 24 April. 56 crew members were disembarked from the ship and sent to quarantine in a hospital.[31] A day later, it was reported that one more member of the crew had disembarked from the ship.[32] Indonesian authorities tested all 57 disembarked Indonesian crew from the ship and 8 of them proved positive.[33]
On 26 April 2020, it was considered that 8 passengers and 346 crew members were still on board when Artania left Indonesian waters.[34][35] The ship disembarked 236 Filipino crewmen in Manila on 1 May.[36][37] The ship then headed to Bremerhaven via Singapore.[37]
On 8 June 2020, after approximately six months at sea, Artania docked in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany. All eight passengers on board were able to disembark by midday local time.[38]
