MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:36 p.m., April 18)— Long weeks of staying afloat in Philippine waters for more than 300 crew members of a cruise ship will finally come to an end. Every day since March, *Linda and some 300 Filipino crew members of an Australian cruise ship have been biding their time and waiting for word on when they can come home. IATF allows cruise ships to dockCabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Thursday said that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases agreed to allow foreign cruise ships carrying Filipino crew to dock in Manila ports. Since sailing, the hundreds of crew members have been practicing social distancing and have had their body temperatures checked twice a day. The cruise ship must ensure that no one visited or joined them in the last 14 days, a precaution that the ship where Linda is on has already taken.

Source: Philippine Star April 17, 2020 10:29 UTC