BY DAKOTA TAIT
A cruise ship with COVID cases onboard has skipped its planned Newcastle stop on Tuesday morning.
The Grand Princess was scheduled to reach the Port of Newcastle around 6am, but continued down the coast.
It's understood, the company cancelled the stop late on Monday, because of uncertainty from Hunter New England Health around whether passengers could disembark.
A spokesperson for the health district said the Public Health Unit had applied the Eastern Seaboard and Western Australian Cruise Protocols, asking that all passengers be tested before disembarking.
It's believed there's a large number of infected passengers on the vessel.
"[Hunter New England] had also engaged Princess Cruises on ways to best manage and support those on board with COVID-19," the spokesperson said.
"And how to reduce COVID-19 transmission in regional communities if passengers were to disembark in Newcastle."
It's understood the ship is set to arrive in Melbourne on Thursday, though it's not clear how many passengers are infected with COVID.
