A passenger aboard the 128,048gt/2011 built Carnival Magic (above) entered voluntary isolation whilst the ship was on a Caribbean cruise. The hospital employee from Dallas, Texas, may have handled laboratory specimens from an Ebola victim, since deceased, and who became the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S.A.

At the time over 19 days had passed since the passenger may have processed the patient’s fluid samples and, monitored by the ship’s medical doctor, the worker was reportedly in good health. The enhanced checks for Ebola had not come in to effect when the cruise ship embarked upon this trip on 12th October. A Coastguard helicopter deposited a medical pack on the ship on 18th October in order to retrieve blood samples from the quarantined passenger. Both she and her spouse are isolated but there were no restrictions placed on other passengers aboard the ship.

The ship was refused entry into Belize and Mexico and returned to Galveston on 19th October.