Louis passengers in Mytilene “recovering well”

Louis Group chief executive Costakis Loizou told a news briefing in Limassol on Thursday that a number of passengers with a serious virus on board the Ivory were recovering well in hospital on the Aegean island of Mytilene.

Loizou said that the causes were being investigated, appeared a few hours after the ship’s departure from Limassol last Sunday.

“Only two children were initially affected, but this soon spread to more and 28 children and adults visited the ship’s doctor,” he said.

“This is a Greek-flag ship, which means that any public and health official you can think of boarded the ship. After a thorough inspection it was allowed to continue its journey to Kos,” Loizou said.

Lab reports on the initial virus were expected late on Thursday or Friday, but hospital officials denied the illness was caused on board the ship and may have been carried on by persons affected before embarkation.

A Louis spokesman said that in all, 45 people stayed behind in Mytilene, of whom only eight children and four adults were admitted in hospital. They will remain on the island and will return home once they have fully recovered.