Quarantining of vessels arriving from China

13 Feb 2020 / South Africa

South Africa’s Department of Health has instructed ports that free pratique must not be withheld for vessels arriving from China, outside of the incubation period for 2019 n-CoV, if the Master declares on the pratique application that the vessel is healthy.

Applications for free pratique submitted to port health must be thoroughly interrogated and any information relating to crew changes must be noted and the following taken into account:
- Date the crew change too place
- Where the crew change took place
- Country from where the crew member departed, and date, in order to give effect to the crew change.

This information will inform Port Health whether all crew on board the conveyance is outside of the 14-day incubation period for 2019 n-CoV, should any crew member have departed from China for the crew change.

The above is in immediate effect.

For information about operations in South Africa contact GAC South Africa at [email protected]

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