2 passengers aboard a Mediterranean cruise tested positive for COVID-19

• Two passengers aboard the MSC Seaside ship sailing in the Mediterranean tested positive for COVID-19.
• The two guests were not traveling together.
• The cases come as cruise lines in the US gear up to resume sailing.

Cruise lines in the US are still racing to resume sailing. But overseas, a new problem reminiscent of March 2020 has surfaced: two passengers aboard an MSC Cruises ship sailing in the Mediterranean have tested positive for COVID-19.

The two passengers, who were asymptomatic aboard the MSC Seaside, tested positive during a "routine test," the cruise line told Insider in an email statement.

MSC does not require its guests to be fully vaccinated, but the cruise line has a routine COVID-19 testing schedule. Before a cruise trip begins, passengers must test negative two to four days before leaving their homes, and again before embarking. Guests then have to take another test halfway through the cruise, which is when the two passengers tested positive for the virus.

The two passengers were not traveling together, but both of their respective groups and two people they came in "close contact" with tested negative, according to MSC Cruises. Shortly after the positive result, the six guests - the two COVID-19-positive passengers, their parties, and the close contacts - were isolated.

MSC Seaside then made a "technical call" in Malta where no passengers disembarked after the ship was denied entry to the port, the Times of Malta reported. And shortly after, the cruise sailed to its next port in Siracusa, Italy, where the two guests and their groups were "taken home by protected MSC Cruises transport," according to the cruise line.

The ship has since carried on with no further itinerary changes and will continue sailing this summer.

"If anything this is another demonstration that our rigorous health and safety operating protocol works to effectively protect our guests, crew, and the communities we visit," the cruise line said.

In late March, the Cruise Lines International Association reported that of the then almost 400,000 passengers who have resumed sailing outside of the US, less than 50 passengers had COVID-19.