MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argos Pereira Peruvian crew member hospitalized in Montevideo

The trawler Argos Pereira left Canary Islands, having complied with all the protocol testing.

One of the crew members from the Falklands bound trawler Argos Pereira, currently retained in Montevideo with 28 Covid-19 cases tested positive, had to be evacuated Monday afternoon and taken to a local hospital, because of further complications to his health situation.

According to Uruguayan health ministry sources and a report from the Uruguayan Foreign Fishing Vessels agents chamber, CAPE, the crewmember, a Peruvian national, 30 years old was suffering from constant high temperature and low oxygen saturation in blood and other symptoms characteristic of the disease.

CAPE said a doctor contracted by the company is monitoring the health situation of crew members on board, and the surveillance will continue daily until all crewmembers swabs test negative.

Of the remaining 27 crewmembers on board the trawler, which tested positive, five have developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. However last Saturday only one was in that condition.

Over the weekend thirteen crewmembers which tested negative were landed and taken to a local hotel in Montevideo, under quarantine, and to keep them away from the outbreak on the Argos Pereira.

The trawler called in Montevideo last Thursday for bunkering and supplies having left Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The mandatory testing done by the Uruguayan authorities discovered the 28 positive cases, among the 54 crew members, despite the fact the vessel was “clean” when it left Spain for the Falklands' squid season.