New Covid tests on cruise ship crew come back negative

Retests conducted on 12 members of the crew of the TUI-operated Mein Schiff 6 cruise ship who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus came back negative on Tuesday, according to reports.

The 12 members of the 666-strong crew were part of a group of 150 employees on the ship who were tested at random before departure from the port of Iraklio on Crete in what was the first cruise to be conducted in Greek waters since the spring lockdown.

When the results came back positive after the ship had set sail for Corfu, the cruise liner was ordered to sail to the port of Piraeus, where a team from the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) will be conducting fresh tests.

The crew members were tested again onboard on the way to Piraeus using the rapid PCR testing method. The results still need to be confirmed by EODY.