Hurtigruten will receive a fine of NOK 1 million, and the captain and one ship doctor will also be fined in relation to the corona outbreak on the Roald Amundsen ship in 2020.
Prosecutor Jørn Bremnes at the Troms og Finnmark public prosecutor’s office says that the violation is considered significant in terms of the number of passengers and crew, the nature of the disease, the severity of contagion, and the risk of further infection.
“The prosecution believes it is right to impose a fine on Hurtigruten for this, and based on the nature and seriousness of the violation, it believes that NOK 1 million is the right fine,” he stated in a press release from Troms Police District.
Fines for the captain and ship’s doctor
The police have also imposed a fine of NOK 30,000 on the captain and a fine of NOK 40,000 on the ship’s doctor on other voyages.
The captain is fined for violating the Infection Control Act after failing to notify the Norwegian authorities of possible infection.
The ship’s doctor receives a fine for violating the Infection Control Act after failing to notify the Norwegian authorities of possible infection and for violation of the Health Personnel Act for deficiencies in the practice of the profession as health personnel.
Not notified
In July 2020, Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen was on two voyages from Tromsø and around Svalbard. From Wednesday, July 29, two days before arriving at the port of Tromsø, the company had several independent pieces of information suggesting the transmission of COVID-19 on board the ship.
After arriving in Tromsø on Friday, July 31, on the second voyage, corona infection was detected among crew and passengers.
Despite this, the shipping company failed to implement infection control measures, notify passengers, crew, or public authorities about this, the police wrote in the press release.
Complicated
“This is a complicated case, which raises a number of legal challenges. Therefore, we will spend the weekend and the next few days reviewing the details of the fine and what it means for the company,” lawyer Berit Reiss-Andersen, who represents Hurtigruten Coastal AS, said.
Forty-two of the crew members on board Roald Amundsen had coronavirus. Twenty-nine passengers were also infected in the outbreak. A total of 386 passengers had to be quarantined.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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