FALMOUTH, Jamaica— Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has revealed that nine of the 400 Jamaican crew members who disembarked the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Adventure of the Seas up to Friday, have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Those who returned negative results have since been reunited with their families and will self- quarantine at home for 14 days, while the others have been placed in state-run quarantine facilities.

For home quarantine, individuals will be required to consent to have their location geofenced via JamCOVID19 website and to do a video check- multiple times daily.

Approximately 1,044 Jamaican cruise ship workers arrived at the Falmouth Cruise Ship Port on Tuesday last, under Government’s re-entry programme.

A total of 400 crew members disembarked the vessel on Thursday and Friday.

Under the initiative, the crew members have to follow a number of protocols, including testing for COVOD-19.

Meanwhile, crew members resumed leaving the ship this morning—despite inclement weather— after a break on Saturday.

Some 244 are expected to be processed today, and officials are hoping to complete the processing of the 1,044 crew members by Thursday, way ahead of the planned two-week timeframe.

On Thursday, Dr Tufton told reporters that the processing of the first batch of Jamaicans from the ship went smoothly, adding that the process was completed ahead of schedule.

MARK CUMMINGS