Italian operator Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) has converted one of its passenger vessels to serve as a temporary hospital ship to accommodate coronavirus patients in the port city of Genoa.
The Ro-Pax ferry Splendid underwent a modification programme to enable it to house patients who had earlier tested positive for the virus but were recently declared by hospitals as requiring "protected discharge" while they recover from the disease.
GNV said early last week that Splendid is now ready to accommodate up to 25 patients but added that the vessel could be modified further to house up to 400 patients should the need arise.
The conversion was carried out with assistance from classification society RINA as well as public health and civil defence officials of the Liguria region where Genoa is located.
