Ten people aboard a cruise ship approaching New Orleans have tested positive for Covid.

The Norwegian Breakaway had departed New Orleans on November 28 and is due to return this weekend.

Over the past week, the ship and its 3,200 passengers made stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.

The Louisiana Department of Health said the ship ‘has been adhering to appropriate quarantine and isolation protocols as new cases and exposures have been identified aboard this vessel’.

Before disembarking in New Orleans, each person on board will be tested and those who are positive will go directly home or self-isolate in accommodation provided by the cruise line.

Officials did not release any information about the conditions of those who have contracted the virus.

Cruises were an early source of outbreaks at the start of the pandemic last year, with passengers forced to quarantine on board after being rejected at ports.

Some passengers died of Covid at sea while others fell so ill they had to be carried out of the vessels on stretchers.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order in March 2020, prompting a standstill that ended last June as cruise ships began to leave US ports with new health and safety requirements.

According to Norwegian’s website, the company requires all passengers and crew members to have been vaccinated against the virus at least two weeks prior to departure.

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