Queenslanders will be only passengers allowed off swine flu ship

BRISBANE: The Queensland Government will invoke tough quarantine powers to stop Pacific Dawn cruise ship passengers who do not live in Queensland from disembarking in Brisbane today.

The P&O cruise ship with 2000 passengers on board is expected to dock in Brisbane this morning, after it cut short a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The ship's owner Carnival Australia said yesterday five passengers had been isolated and treated with antiviral medication, pending swab tests that were dropped off during a brief anchorage outside Gladstone.

Three crew members previously tested positive for swine flu but have since recovered after treatment.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said that when the ship arrived only people from her state would be allowed to disembark, and only after they were screened.

"It will be the same sort of screening that you would get atan international airport, that is,if anybody is displaying symptoms ... they will be home quarantined."

She said passengers who are not from Queensland "will be asked to remain on the ship, be quarantined on the ship".

- AAP