Meilan Airport Terminal 2 opens, Hainan Airlines moves over from 30 December 2021

Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA / First 7 Images : Yin Xiangyu

News on airport development, airline management, disease control

News (1)

Meilan Airport Terminal 2 opens, Hainan Airlines moves over from 30 December 2021

As Haikou Meilan International Airport's Phase II expansion project is officially put into operation, some flights of Hainan Airlines have been successfully transferred to Terminal 2 for operation. The current operation in all aspects is stable and orderly. Therefore the airline has decided to start a full transition. 

Starting from 30 December 2021, all Hainan Airlines' inbound and outbound flights in Haikou will be transferred to Meilan Airport T2 for operation. It is estimated that nearly 140 inbound and outbound flights will be operated daily, and more than 50 domestic navigation points will be operated. Passengers taking Hainan Airlines at that time, please go to Terminal T2 to complete the check-in procedures.

About Meilan Airport T2

It is understood that the new T2 terminal of Meilan Airport Phase II covers an area of about 300,000 square metres, located 1 km north of the T1 terminal. There are 5 check-in islands, 110 check-in counters, 40 security check channels, and 36 corridors. Bridge boarding gates, 21 remote boarding gates, tax-free commercial area of nearly 10,000 square metres, about 23 km away from the Guoxing commercial district in the center of Haikou, it is estimated that it will take about 35 minutes for passengers to reach the T2 terminal from the city centre.

The Hainan Airlines check-in area (above) is located at the southern end of Island C in the Departure Hall on the third floor of the terminal. The Economy Class manual counters are at counters C01-C11, and the high-end passenger check-in counters are at counters C19-C22 (above). Passengers can enter the closest distance from Gate 3 of the departure hall.

The special passenger service area is located 20 meters west of check-in island E. Passengers can go directly to the Hainan Airlines special service area to check in, or go directly to the check-in counter on Island C.

News (2)

Hainan Airlines VIP lounge relocated to the fourth level of T2

The Hainan Airlines VIP lounge is located in T2 Terminal 4. Passengers can turn left about 200 meters from the departure hall on the 3rd floor of the T2 terminal after passing the security check, enter the T-junction in the isolation area, and follow the “Hainan Airlines Haiyixuan” sign near boarding gate 48 to reach the elevator hall, take the elevator to the 4th floor to reach.

The self-service check-in equipment is located near the check-in counter on Island C, between the entrance 2 and the 3rd entrance of the terminal building, a total of 6 self-service check-in devices are set up for Hainan Airlines passengers to use while the baggage check-in equipment is located at the self-checking counter No. 17-18, and passengers can go to this area for self-checking baggage.

News (3)

Hainan Airlines: Free ticket refund and modification services for passengers traveling to the wrong terminal

At the same time, Hainan Airlines also provides free ticket refund and modification services for passengers who fail to travel due to the wrong terminal. Passengers who purchase domestic flights out of Haikou on 14 January 2022 (inclusive), if they are transferred due to transfer and go to the wrong Meilan Airport terminal and cannot make the trip due to the reasons, they can be issued the "Passenger Wrong Terminal Certificate" at the Hainan Airlines check-in manager counter in the T2 or T1 terminal.

The certificate indicates that the ticket can be rescheduled free of charge during the validity period for follow-up flights of the same class or go through free refund procedures. For details, please inquire at the on-site check-in counter, all directly affiliated ticket offices or the customer service hotline 95339.

News (4)

Hainan Airlines on epidemic prevention and control measures

                                     

                                                                   Image : Researcher's Picture

Hainan Airlines kindly reminds that during the epidemic prevention and control period, passengers who plan to travel should understand the relevant epidemic prevention policies of the departure place and destination in advance, make corresponding preparations, and prepare the required materials such as nucleic acid certificates, health codes, itinerary codes, etc., to ensure they can board their flights smoothly. 

News (5)

Hainan Airlines opens 95339-1-1 for transfer services

Image : Researcher's Picture of the former Meilan Domestic Terminal. Now it is the location of Meilan Airport Terminal 2.  

In addition, Hainan Airlines has opened a special line 95339-1-1 for transfer services. If passengers have any question, they can call this hotline for consultation. For more details on the second phase of Meilan Airport, passengers can learn about it on Hainan Airlines' official website, APP, and Hainan Airlines' official WeChat account "Hainan Airlines" and "Hainan Airlines Special".

Image courtesy : Haikou Meilan Airport 

News (6)

5 passengers diagnosed with Covi29 on Shenzhen flight

According to the Shenzhen Health Commission, on 22 December 2021, Air China flight CA770 arrived in Shenzhen from Los Angeles, and 5 passengers were diagnosed positive with covid.

On 24 December 2021, the Shenzhen CDC traced the samples of 5 people to the source of covid. Among them, the full gene sequence analysis results of the virus in the samples of 3 people showed that it was the Omicron variant (Covi29).

After all passengers of flight CA770 arrived in Shenzhen, they were included in closed-loop management, and the 5 confirmed cases were promptly transferred to the emergency hospital area of Shenzhen Third People's Hospital for isolation and treatment.

The general public is requested to continue to maintain good hygiene habits and adhere to effective prevention and control measures such as scientifically wearing masks, vaccinating, washing hands frequently, and not gathering together. Entry personnel, personnel in high-risk positions, and personnel in key epidemic areas must proactively declare after returning to Shenzhen, cooperate with health monitoring, insist on non-essential non-exit, reduce unnecessary travel, and work together to resist the risk of Covi29 infection. 

News (7)

The main body of the corridors of the T1 and T2 terminals of Baiyun Airport begins to close

Reporters : Guo Jun Xie Yajie, China News Network

With the lifting instruction issued, a steel column with a height of about 13 metres and a weight of 24 tons, located in the East 4th corridor of the T2 terminal building, was slowly hoisted, aiming at the installation location of the foundation pit and falling slowly..

The first connecting corridor steel column of the East Fourth Corridor of the third-phase expansion project of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has been successfully hoisted recently, marking the official start of the construction of the steel structure and the official beginning of the main body of the connecting corridors of the airport's T1 and T2 terminals.

Since then, the third-phase expansion project of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has entered a rapid advancement stage.

The East Four West Four Corridors Project of T2 Terminal Building is an important part of the third phase expansion project of Baiyun Airport. Since the project started on 27 September 2020, the Guangdong Airport Group Engineering Construction Headquarters has optimized plans, deepened drawings, detailed management, overcome many difficulties on site, taken multiple measures and strived for perfection, ensuring the smooth progress of the project.

The total construction area of ​​the East Four West Four Corridor Project of Baiyun Airport Phase III Expansion Project is about 157,300 square metres. After completion, the T1 and T2 terminals will be connected as a whole to form the first expanded terminal building of ​​Baiyun Airport.

News (8)

China Southern introduces Dreamliner on its Guangzhou-Hohhot route

Image : Researcher's Picture

On 24 December 2021, China Southern introduces its Dreamliner 787 aircraft on its Guangzhou-Hohhot route.

According to schedules, China Southern flight CZ3307 leaves Guangzhou for Hohhot at 2.50 pm, arrives in Hohhot at 6.05 pm before taking off from Hohhot for Guangzhou at 7.25 pm and touching down in Guangzhou at 10.40 pm under flight CZ3308.

China Southern flies between Guangzhou and Hohhot on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

News (9) to (11) / Reporter  : Pan Xueping 

News (9)

Zhanjiang Airport air traffic control project completes

On 23 December 2021, the air traffic control project of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport successfully passed the industry acceptance, providing a strong guarantee for the completion and commissioning of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport.

The Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport air traffic control project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2018, and the preliminary design and budgetary estimate were approved by the Central South China Civil Aviation Administration in June 2020. 

The project site is located in Wuchuan Tangzhu, Zhanjiang, with a total investment of 349 million Dollars. It consists of construction of towers, air traffic control buildings, business support houses, Gaoaoling radar station and Heshan radar station. 

The air traffic control project is time-critical and task-heavy. It involves multi-field collaboration and technological innovation. It has created a number of “firsts” in central and southern regions and even the country in terms of engineering and technology. 

China South Air Traffic Management Bureau attaches great importance to the construction of the project and dispatched an on-site working group of the project construction headquarters. Zhanjiang Air Traffic Control Station went all out to promote the completion of the project ahead of schedule and successfully pass the acceptance.

News (10)

Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport Tower the "eye of the airport"

Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport Tower is the air traffic command centre of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport. As the "eye of the airport" and a landmark building, it is the "brain" that guarantees the orderly operation of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport. Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport's tower newly installed two sets of integrated tower systems. This system is the first integrated tower system in Central and South China and the first integrated tower system in small and medium-sized airports across the country. The system can realize the unified processing and display of control information resources, realize the integrated integration of control business, and provide users with an integrated and integrated control command platform. The system can more safely, smoothly and efficiently assist aircraft taxiing, take-off, landing and airport operations, promote the quality of the "air hub" of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport, and demonstrate the core strength of Zhanjiang Wuchuan Airport with higher efficiency.

News (11)

The ATC building reflects Zhanjiang's marine culture

The design style of the tower building to refine the regional culture of Zhanjiang is a highlight. The tower architecture pays attention to the characteristics of Zhanjiang's local culture, and strives to absorb the characteristics of Zhanjiang's marine culture. The image of the upturned waves becomes the cultural association of the aviation management building, and the tower logo of the coastal city is shaped by the stirred waves. The soft and straight curve is like Zhanjiang City Flower Bauhinia is waiting; the command and control room with a transparent top is like the dazzling Naozhou crystal lighthouse in Zhanjiang, leading a safe, warm, and homely journey.

News (12) to (13) / Reporter : Luo Tingting / Editor: Wang Anping / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/12/26/a103303449.html

News (12)

U.S. flight to China was forced to return midway, the reasons surfaced

Image of Pudong Airport : Researcher's Picture

A few days ago, a US flight to Shanghai was forced to return midway, arousing public concern. It is reported that Shanghai Pudong Airport issued new regulations on epidemic prevention and implemented strict disinfection measures on 24 December, which caused the disinfection time to be extended from 2 hours to 7 and a half hours, and many flights were forced to be cancelled.

The official website of the CCP Chinese Embassy in the United States announced on 25 December that, recently, several flights from the United States to mainland China were delayed or cancelled, and an airline even returned halfway after the flight. The Chinese Embassy reminded passengers going to China to pay attention to the changes in flights and reiterated that "not necessary, do not travel."

At night of 22 December, a Delta flight from Seattle to Shanghai is expected to land in Pudong  in the early morning of 24 December but after the plane flew for about 6 hours, it suddenly returned. Many Chinese passengers, foreign students and other visas on the plane have expired. In addition, many people's health codes for epidemic prevention are also facing expiration, and they are forced to face the situation of "illegal entry".

The mainland media "Red Star News" reported that when the flight returned, the captain notified that "due to a temporary change in China's immigration policy, the health code of everyone on the flight will not be verified." However, the report did not give details.

The incident of the midway return of the US flight to China has aroused public concern. A mainland netizen said on Sina Weibo, “Because the new regulations of the Civil Aviation Administration of China require an increase of 3 to 5 hours of disinfection time, the crew was forced to overtime and violated the federal law, so the crew had to return.”

Pudong Airport issued new regulations on 24 December, and strict disinfection and sterilization measures will be implemented from now to 3 February 2022. Shanghai epidemic prevention personnel will board the plane and carry out carpet-style disinfection of each seat, and the entire cabin needs to be "wiped" and disinfected.

According to a report by the Central News Agency, a Taiwanese aviation industry executive stated that the Shanghai Airport's new epidemic prevention regulations have extended the check-in operation time of flights at Pudong Airport from the original 2 hours to 7 and a half hours.

News (13)

EVA Air and Uni Air suspended outgoing flights to Pudong from Taipei and Kaohsiung

According to the new regulations, many Taiwanese flights returning from Shanghai to Songshan and Kaohsiung airports will exceed the banned time for take-off and landing at 11 o'clock in the evening. At present, EVA Air and Uni Air announced that the flights from Songshan and Kaohsiung to Pudong are suspended but return flights will take off and land normally.

The aviation industry executive said that it is currently impossible to determine whether Shanghai's strict disinfection measures will be extended to other airports in the mainland.

News (14) to (19) / Source : Voice of America / Editor : Tang Ying / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/12/26/a103303364.html

News (14)

Xi'an shuts down the city on a large scale, 13 million people are in distress

Image of Xi'an : Researcher's Picture

Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, began to close the city without warning at midnight on Thursday (23 December). The lives of 13 million people in the city were pressed the "pause button" ", entering the "closed management" mode, as if to reproduce the scene of Wuhan's closure at the beginning of last year. With the number of confirmed cases exceeding 200, the ancient city was caught off guard by the sudden outbreak, panic buying appeared in local markets and stores, and the health code program of personal mobile phones also crashed, causing tens of thousands of people to be unable to go to work and commute as usual. The Chinese Communist Party’s official media criticized Xi'an for not being able to respond even more severely.

CCP China's covid epidemic has spread again. After the first local confirmed case broke out in Xi'an on December 9, the epidemic has surged this Wednesday (22 December). The number of confirmed cases in a single day for three consecutive days reached double digits, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases so far has reached 235.

The Xi'an Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters began to strictly control the city's traffic from 4 pm on Wednesday (22 December), prohibiting citizens from leaving the city without special reasons, and prohibiting foreign vehicles and people from entering Xi'an. Beginning at midnight on 23 December, the city has entered a "lockdown city state", and non-essential places have been closed one after another, and the city's communities and units have adopted closed management. This is the largest epidemic prevention and control measure since Wuhan was closed last year.

News (15)

The whole city fell into panic before the lockdown

As soon as the news of the closure of the city came out, most residents rushed to the supermarket to "panic" to buy. From many videos reposted on Weibo and Baidu, people can be seen climbing up to the vegetable stalls to grab food, and there are long queues in supermarkets, and there are many others. People started to quarrel in order to buy the meat. The few people who grabbed the meat rode the locomotive and rushed home, while those who were a step late could only look at the empty food racks and sigh.

This scene is like the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, which was closed on January 23, 2020 at the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown epidemic.

Searching for news of Xi’an’s closure on Weibo, most netizens from Xi’an complained. A netizen posted a post saying, "The high-speed rail station is closed and no one is allowed to enter." Some netizens left a message saying, "The first day the city was closed, I was going crazy. Is this different from a prison? "More people worry about the lack of food, and some netizens responded, "If the community is closed, the community will be closed. What is the situation if the fruits and vegetables I bought are not delivered to me? I'm really speechless. Where to buy groceries?". 

Some netizens also said, “On the second day of the lockdown, you cannot leave the school gate, there is no water or electricity, no food, and you have to go online.” In addition, there are also many people who complain about the inadequate epidemic prevention of the Xi'an authorities and poor planning of unwarned city closure measures. 

Some netizens sarcastically said, "Three words are inexplicable, weird, and ridiculous. These three words are given to the managers of Xi'an." Some netizens also complained and said, "The policy that changes every day is like a big carousel. No matter where it is pointed, it is always there anyway. Unexpectedly."

Regarding the lockdown of the city, Ms. Zhang, a citizen of Xi'an, said that the news came too suddenly and caught her off guard, and she knew it was too late to get food at all. Ms. Zhang told VOA, “I didn’t know yesterday (22 December). It was past 6 o’clock when I knew it. Later, I heard from others that the things on the market yesterday (22 December) were basically all grabbed."

Mr. Shi, who lives in the Lianhu district to the northwest of Xi’an, said that as soon as he went to the hypermarket, he saw a surge of people dozens of times more than usual. Everyone rushed to buy supplies before closing the city. Fortunately, the store replenishment is fast, so it is not impossible to buy things but there are too many people and the checkout section is stuck in a long queue, which is miserable.

Mr. Shi told the Voice of America, "The main reason for the queue is that the settlement is extremely slow, because after the flow of people has increased dozens of times, I just buy things, and I can’t settle the account for a long time. If I settle the account, I will wait for more than an hour before and after. The team just started to check out."

News (16)

Xi'an is instantly like an empty city

The reason why Xi'an authorities "broke their arms" and temporarily decided to lock down the city was mainly because the National Health Commission of China notified on December 22 that there were 100 new confirmed cases of covid nationwide. Among the 71 local cases, there were as many as 63 cases. The confirmed cases are from Xi’an. 

Xi'an carried out the second round of nucleic acid screening that night, and another 127 cases were found to be positive. According to official judgments, there are three transmission chains for this wave of epidemics, which come from local hotels, clinics, and universities. 

The Xi'an epidemic has spread to five cities, including Beijing, Xianyang, Yan'an, Dongguan, Guangdong and Zhoukou, Henan. According to expert analysis, the epidemic in Xi'an has entered its peak period.

After Xi'an was completely closed, domestic and international flights at Xianyang Airport were completely suspended, highways around the city were also closed one by one, vehicles were prohibited from entering, long-distance passenger transport throughout the city was suspended, and some trains leaving the city were also suspended. 

Citizens of Xi'an must hold a negative certificate within 48 hours and report to the government before leaving the city. As for the service industry, scenic spots, movie theatres, and KTV and other entertainment venues have been completely closed, clinics have been suspended, and restaurants have also reduced internal use.

With the closure of the city, the bustling streets of the entire ancient city of Xi’an instantly became desolate, and the lives of 13 million people seemed to press the pause button, like the doomsday scene of a movie. According to the plan of the local government, after the closure of the city, only one person per household will be allowed to go out to purchase daily necessities. Other family members will be prohibited from going out unless they work in related industries such as epidemic prevention and control, urban transit protection, and close citizens’ lives. Hold the certificate issued by the unit or community.

Ms. Zhang, a citizen of Xi'an, said that after the closure of the city, the procedures for entering and exiting various places have become cumbersome, and most people can only stay at home to prevent the epidemic. Ms. Zhang said: "Now we are not allowed to go out. Now we are all doing nucleic acid, and then the family will send one person out to buy groceries and buy some necessities in two days. Alas, there is no way, and some seem to be difficult to say. Ah, when people don’t let go when they go out, there are many things that can’t be done.”

Mr. Shi, a citizen of Xi’an, also said that to go out, there must be a nucleic acid report, a green code, and an itinerary card, which is quite troublesome, because the main purpose of the government's strict control is to greatly reduce the chance of people gathering and contagion outside.

Mr. Shi said, "The current community cannot enter and exit freely. For example, if you want to enter the community, you have to get a 48-hour nucleic acid report, and the green code (health code), and another your itinerary card. In the middle-risk area, this is a necessary condition. Then after entering the community, you have to take your body temperature. If everything is normal, you have to register again. After these things are done, you can enter."

News (17)

Official media criticized Xi'an for failing to respond

The closure of Xi'an has not only caused widespread complaints from the citizens, but also published criticisms in the state-owned media China News Weekly's China News Weekly. The weekly published a special article on Wednesday (December 22) titled "Telling Xi'an Epidemic, Why is the emergency response of a major town with tens of millions of people like this?" ", re-approved Xi'an City for failure of prevention and control, which caused chaos.

The weekly accuses Xi'an city authorities of being unable to identify the transmission chain, and that the local medical unit's manpower is insufficient to cope with the temporary large-scale testing, causing citizens to wait in the cold wind for hours. Among them, the systems of some nucleic acid testing stations even crashed and all the collected samples were invalidated. In the end, they had to issue a separate notice requesting the citizens to do the second test, which caused the people to fall into disorder and chaos.

Ms. Zhang, a citizen of Xi'an, suffered greatly. Ms. Zhang said, "I went to queue once in the morning and didn't make it. I went there again in the afternoon and didn't make it. Just after six o'clock, I went down and queued for more than an hour. I did. It’s cold outside and everyone is queuing there. In some places, the nucleic acid maker knocks on the door and arrives at home. Once everyone at home has done (nucleic acid test), they will not let out. Let’s let it out here. Let you line up by yourself, anyway, one community will look the same."

Following the official media’s criticism of Xi’an’s unsatisfactory epidemic prevention and control, the website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection also investigated and dealt with such issues as the improper organization of nucleic acid testing in Xi’an, untimely delivery of samples, and inaccurate scheduling of test samples, and held accountability four. A total of 26 grassroots party organizations and units, as well as those responsible for punishment.

News (18)

Manufacturing industries such as semiconductors and automobiles may be affected

With the resurgence of the epidemic, in addition to the troubled lives of Xi'an citizens, Xi'an, as an important town in China's semiconductor, automotive, equipment manufacturing and new energy industries, is also worried by the market. If the epidemic continues to spread, it may cause a crisis in the supply chain of Jingyuan, the automotive industry and other industries.

South Korea's Samsung's only overseas factory that produces flash memory chips is located in Xi'an. The investment in the factory exceeds US$25 billion. Samsung said that the current operation of the Xi'an factory will not be affected for the time being.

BYD, a large private automobile manufacturer in China, is also deploying business in the entire industry chain including passenger cars, commercial vehicles and rail transit in Xi'an. BYD admitted frankly that the closure of the city has an impact on its production and is actively coordinating and responding to it.

Taiwanese company Shishuo Industrial, which specializes in auto parts, recently announced the suspension of production at its Xi’an plant and the suspension of 130 employees. In an interview with Voice of America, Shishuo Industrial spokesperson Lian Rongyi said that the factory currently has an internal management mechanism to respond to the epidemic, but if the epidemic cannot be controlled in the short term, it may implement a filing plan and may move production thousands of miles away. Wuxi factory in Jiangsu Province.

Lian Rongyi said, "In the future shipments, if there is a need, we will start the off-site production backup plan. Off-site production is to perform the so-called production in another place, and then trade to customers. This (record) also It is necessary to reach a consensus with the customer before proceeding. There can be no risk of operational interruption, so this is what the company has to do long-term planning and consideration."

News (19)

The reason for locking down Xi'an

Image : Researcher's Picture

Regarding the lockdown of Xi'an, the outside world once questioned that the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Xi'an in the past two weeks was only 235. Why can't it draw a contaminated area to accurately prevent the epidemic?

According to the Beijing Daily on Thursday (23 December), quoting Wu Hao, a community prevention and control expert from the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Comprehensive Group of the State Council of China, pointed out that the latest round of nucleic acid screening results in Xi’an showed that many positive cases appeared outside the closed zone. The distribution has been too extensive, and there are cases of spillover, so locking down the city has become the only safest option.

Wu Hao said that when there are multiple dot-shaped community transmissions of unknown origin, they should be decisive and find a way to "quiet" the city first and stabilize the tension.

Wu Hao said that the current epidemic prevention and control in China is in the stage of "dynamic zeroing" of precise prevention and control of the entire chain. The most ideal state of epidemic prevention and control is to proactively and quickly discover the source of infection, promptly carry out epidemic investigation, and quickly control relevant personnel and areas to control the scope of the infection. When newly confirmed cases return to the same transmission chain and the source of infection is relatively clear, then the time can be unblocked or relaxed. (The article has been edited)

News (20)

100% vaccinated warship crew still infected by Omicron, stranded in port

Reporter : Mimi Nguyen Ly / Compiled by Li Yan / Editor : Lin Yan / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/12/25/n13459428.htm

Image : On 16 December 2021, the Liberty-class littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (USS Milwaukee) sails in the ocean. (U.S. Navy photo/Aaron Lau)

The U.S. Navy announced on Christmas Eve that a warship was stranded during Christmas due to the covid outbreak among its crew. The crew on the ship are 100% vaccinated.

The U.S. Fourth Fleet stated in a statement on December 24: "USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), a Liberty-class littoral combat ship, due to some sailors’ exposure to COVID-19. The test was positive, so he stayed at the port."

"The crew are 100% immune, and all sailors who are positive for COVID-19 (testing) are quarantined on the ship, away from other crew members." The statement said, "A part of the infected sailors showed mild symptoms. The vaccine continues to show prevention of seriousness and effectiveness against the disease."

According to the latest data from the Navy, more than 98% of all active sailors have been fully vaccinated. "100% immunity" in the statement means that all crew members have been vaccinated.

The ship is currently stranded in the port at the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (Naval Station in the southeastern tip of Cuba.

The Milwaukee departed from Mayport, Florida, on 14 December to the U.S. Fourth Fleet area of ​​operations to support the tasks of the Southern Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, which includes combating illicit drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. 

The US Fourth Fleet’s statement did not give a specific number of infections, nor did it specify how many of them were mildly ill.

Which variant of covi the crew members were infected with has not yet been determined. The ship is following the guidelines of the CDC for contact tracing and testing.

With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of covi, there has been a recent surge in covid cases across the United States.

The ship is also "taking active mitigation strategies" in accordance with the guidelines of the Navy and CDC.

In early 2020, another naval ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific, was suspended in Guam for about 10 weeks due to the covid outbreak. About 1,000 of the 4,800 sailors on the ship were infected, and a 41-year-old sailor died as a result.

Approximately 4,000 sailors were transferred to shore for quarantine and treatment, and approximately 800 remained on board to protect and operate high-tech systems including operating the ship’s nuclear reactor.