Gibraltar, Nov 03: Gibraltar said it would allow a cruise ship that has been stranded in the Mediterranean with hundreds of sick British tourists to dock today but that infected people would not be allowed off the vessel. The Aurora has been steaming toward Gibraltar, a tiny British colony on the southern coast of Spain, ever since leaving the Greek port of Piraeus on Friday when authorities there refused to allow passengers or crew to get off.
Doctors in Greece treated the passengers and loaded the cruise ship with medical supplies for patients suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.

But Gibraltar said the outbreak of viral gastroenteritis was nearly over with only 11 people sick out of 559 who had been affected by the 24-hour virus. There were seven new cases on Sunday, Gibraltar said.
"The Gibraltar Government will allow the P&O Cruise Ship 'Aurora' to enter Gibraltar and for her healthy passengers to disembark, as normal, as occurred in Venice and Dubrovnik," the government said in a statement released late on Sunday.

"As a precaution passengers who have suffered or shown symptoms of the virus at any time after midnight last Thursday will not be allowed to come ashore," the statement said.

Some 1,900 tourists and 837 crew were on board the ship, which left Southampton on October 20 on a 17-day round trip.

"There is no need for the general public in Gibraltar to be concerned, and we should welcome these visitors to Gibraltar as usual," Tourism Minister Joe Holliday said in the statement.

The Aurora's owners, P&O Cruises, said the infection was believed to have been brought on board by a passenger at Southampton. Bureau Report