COVID-19 information – Principality bans cruise ships until 30 April

© Direction de la Communication / Michael Alesi

At the latest press briefing on the COVID-19 crisis, chaired today by the Minister of State,* the Prince’s Government announced that it had taken new measures.

“The response to this crisis is largely based on individuals’ civic mindedness and sense of responsibility, which have resulted in the fact that Monaco, somewhat paradoxically but very fortunately, has had just one case of coronavirus in the last fortnight and in total,” said Serge Telle. “This appeal to civic mindedness is important, since it relates to protecting not only oneself, but others too.”

 Transport

At sea, the Principality is banning all cruise ships from calling at its port or entering its territorial waters until 30 April. “From a health care perspective, Monaco would not be capable of handling a large number of infected people on board a cruise ship,” explained the Minister of State. The cruise season was set to resume on 23 March and no less than 25 ships carrying a total of between 15,000 and 20,000 passengers were scheduled to make ports of call by the end of April. “As regards possible cruise visitors calling at other ports in the local area, we are encouraging coach companies not to offer Destination Monaco on the list of activities available to these tourists,” Serge Telle continued.

In the yachting sector, the captains of vessels with a length of 24 metres or longer will now need to submit a preliminary health declaration for their crew and passengers 48 hours before mooring in the Principality.

For air travel, helicopter companies serving the Principality from risk areas have been asked to carry out temperature checks on their passengers. In the event of a fever higher than 38°, a decision will be taken in conjunction with the company and the Monaco Civil Aviation Authority.

Finally, CAM buses will now be cleaned and disinfected twice daily, and hand sanitiser will be available on board buses from next week.

Businesses

The sectors that are most affected are the tourism, events, hotel and restaurant industries. To support businesses experiencing difficulties, in addition to the social measures which have already been introduced (deferred payment of social security contributions and use of temporary lay-offs), the Government has decided to reactivate COMED, the Committee for Assistance to Businesses in Difficulty, which was set up in 1996 and last activated in a significant way in 2008 during the global financial crisis (and to a lesser extent during the more recent work on Rue Caroline).

This ad hoc committee will be able to assess businesses’ state of health, propose a recovery plan if applicable and open up access to an interest-free loan.

From tomorrow, information on these support measures will be available to companies through the Welcome Office when a dedicated telephone number (98 98 98 99) and email address covid19entreprises@gouv.mc are launched. A dedicated webpage will also be online very soon (www.spe.gouv.mc ).

Vigilance around the elderly

Vigilance is essential with regard to the vulnerable population of elderly people. Certain measures have been taken in homes and facilities for elderly people. These are the same measures that are routinely taken in the event of flu or gastroenteritis epidemics: limiting all outside interventions in facilities, restricting family visits to residents, and banning gatherings for large events, preferring instead smaller-scale gatherings confined to individual floors. “These are all measures that follow the principle of civic mindedness and responsibility on the part of each one of us, and they will enable us to protect the older members of our society,” said Benoîte de Sevelinges, Director of Princess Grace Hospital.

Sporting events

In the case of Jeep Elite basketball games, the decision made by the French National Basketball League will be applied: games will go ahead as normal with a maximum crowd of 1,000 spectators. This principle will also be adopted for the Tennis Open, for which a final decision will be approved by the Alpes-Maritimes Prefecture.

An exceptional case is the EuroCup basketball game between AS Monaco and Bologna, “which does not fulfil all of the required health conditions since Bologna is in a risk area”, and will be relocated to a third city. The first leg is scheduled for 17 March.