Due to the coronavirus, the Gothenburg Port Authority will, on its own initiative, request a Maritime Declaration of Health from all calling vessels at the Port of Gothenburg.
This applies from Monday, February 3, until further notice the port authority said in a statement.
If an approaching vessel states that it has an ill person on board who has been in a WHO-classified risk area, the port’s quarantine plan will be activated and infection control doctors will be contacted. These doctors then make a medical assessment.
How has coronavirus affected ports and shipping?
According to infection control doctors in contact with the Gothenburg Port Authority, pilots and other port staff can board without risk to their own health if they do not meet the sick person. The Maritime Declaration of Health covers, among other things, if someone in the crew has been in an identified risk area for the past two weeks and if someone is sick on board the ship.
This is not something the port authority has been instructed to do, but it is an initiative we take ourselves as a Port Authority. To request a Maritime Declaration of Health is not a complicated or new procedure, but a routine that the vessels and Gothenburg Port Authority are used to, said Åsa Kärnebro, Harbour Master at the Port of Gothenburg.
The Gothenburg Port Authority is in continuous contact with infection control doctors in the Västra Götaland region. The request for a Declaration of Health to calling vessels is valid until further notice, with no set end date.
