A British fishing vessel has been isolated in a South American port after a COVID-19 outbreak among crew members.
The British ship arrived in the Port of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital city, last Thursday.
The Ministry of Health confirmed on Saturday that 28 of the 54 crew members onboard the Argos Pereira ship, a fishing vessel built in 1989 and currently sailing under the flag of the Falkland Islands, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The Chamber of Foreign Fishing Agents stated on Saturday night via Twitter that an evacuation of the 26 negative crew members was carried out.
The evacuated crew members, despite being COVID-19 negative, are expected to spend five days in isolation.
The company that owns the fishing vessel, Argos Pereira Limited, told the newspaper La Voz de Galicia that the ship arrived in Uruguay with the intention of refuelling on its journey from the Canary Islands in Spain when the tests were carried out.
The British boat in the port of Montevideo 
The British boat in the port of Montevideo
The crew underwent testing prior to leaving Spain with all crew members receiving negative test results.
The 28 COVID-19 positive passengers are set to remain isolated on the ship until testing confirms they are no longer infected.
This is not the first incident of COVID-19 preventing a ship from leaving Uruguayan waters.
An Australian cruise linear suffered a similar fate last March. The ‘Greg Mortimer’ ship spent nearly two months in Montevideo after over 100 passengers tested positive for the virus.
Unlike many South American countries, Uruguay has had relative success in containing COVID-19. Data provided by John Hopkins University shows that the country has so far recorded 48,909 cases and 535 related deaths.
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Story By: Peter Barker, Sub-Editor: Joana Mihajlovska, Agency: Newsflash
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