Quarantine Measurements of Cruise Ships at Keelung Port During COVID 19 Pandemic, Taiwan, 2020

Keelung port, which has developed cruise ship economics and established regular quarantine measures in recent years, has become the dominant berth port of cruise ships in Taiwan. In response to the rapid change of worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan banned international cruise ships from berthing at international ports on February 6, 2020. During the period from January 31 to February 8, 2020, three cruise ships (DP, WD and AQ) called at Keelung port, and different quarantine measures were carried out, including shore risk assessment mode, shore quarantine mode and boarding quarantine mode, respectively. While COVID-19 pandemic shows easing in the future, quarantine measures could certainly be loosened and the international ports for cruise ships would be reopened. To prevent the COVID-19 from entering to community, we suggest that various risk factors should be considered before and after cruise ships calling at the ports. Furthermore, competent authorities should take applicable quarantine measures according to the results of risk assessments.