The Navy on Friday reported more than a dozen cases of COVID-19 among military personnel aboard a warship in the Middle East, with several people possibly infected on another vessel.
The military branch announced the outbreak of coronavirus on board the USS San Diego amphibious transport dock in a press release, adding that it also identified “several people under investigation” on the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea.
The Navy added that medical personnel are conducting contact tracking to determine the source of the outbreak on the ships.
The USS San Diego is currently anchored in Bahrain, with the Navy explaining that all “positive cases have been isolated on board and the ship remains in a restricted COVID bubble”.
In the meantime, the Navy said it would not disclose the location of the Philippine Sea “due to operational security”, adding that “it is expected to lure it to the port to carry out further testing of all those possibly exposed and to provide testing capacity. medical treatment centers as needed. ”
The Navy explained that people who were identified as having close contact with the infected military were isolated on board the ship while following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Ministry of Health of Bahrain.
“The 5th US Fleet is committed to taking all possible measures to protect the health of our force,” added the Navy on Friday. “While the health and well-being of our people is a priority, we remain ready to support the mission of the U.S. Central Command and our regional and coalition partners.”
New infections appear just over a week after the Navy report three COVID-19 cases among sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which last year became the center of a major coronavirus outbreak.
The outbreak last year was the biggest the military has seen since the pandemic began. More than 1,200 military personnel aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19, with all 4,800 crew members sent ashore to Guam for quarantine for weeks.