All Ruby Princess crew members who are yet to show symptoms for COVID-19 will be tested in the next 48 hours, the NSW government says.
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Following calls from unions and Illawarra Labor MPs to expand testing on board the ship, berthed at Port Kembla, NSW Health confirmed it would increase the number of tests "in order to gain a better understanding of whether crew were developing immunity".
"Over the next 48 hours we expect all crew who have yet to be tested - as they are currently asymptomatic - to have been tested for COVID-19," the health department said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 149 crew on board the Ruby Princess had tested positive for COVID-19 from around 300 tests, and 13 people have been taken off the ship for treatment in Sydney hospitals.
NSW Health said it appeared the transmission of coronavirus on the ship was slowing.
"While the epidemiological evidence indicates there has been transmission of the virus on the vessel, this appears to have slowed," NSW Health said.
"Food is now prepared off-board and heated and distributed on board by people in personal protective equipment."
The department warned that testing on people with no symptoms of COVID-19 could often lead to false negative results.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the news that all crew would be tested was "an important first step".
"All the crew members will be tested as the International Transport Workers Federation had demanded," he said. "It's an important first step, we need to know the scale of the problem we're looking at in order for crew to be treated, isolated and repatriated."
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