Cruise ship disembarks in New Orleans with at least 17 COVID cases, including a "probable" Omicron infection

New Orleans — A Norwegian Cruise Line ship with at least 17 passengers and crew members infected with COVID-19 docked Sunday in New Orleans, where health officials said the ship was disembarked amid efforts to prevent any spread into the community. At least one of the infected crew members is suspected to have the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Louisiana Department of Health said late Sunday.   The Norwegian Breakaway arrived in the city on Sunday after departing from New Orleans on November 28 and making stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico over the past week.   Norwegian Cruise Line issued a statement on Saturday confirming a "handful of COVID-19 cases among guests and crew." The company said all of the identified cases involved people without symptoms of the illness.

Late Sunday evening, the state health department said a total of 17 people from the ship had tested positive, but it did not provide a breakdown of how many were crew and how many were passengers beyond noting that the single "probable" Omicron case was a crewmember. The person was not a Louisiana resident and had not left the ship, the agency said.

The state recorded its first confirmed Omicron case on Sunday, the health department said, but that was unrelated to the Norwegian cruise liner.