If there is an illness, or suspected illness on board, it must be reported to us before arrival.
When arriving from a foreign port, a Master of a ship is required to report any suspected infectious disease or death on board amongst crew, passengers or any animals or birds to us. This report should be made no less than four hours and not more than 12 hours before arrival.
For aircraft, the Captain is responsible for notifying us.
You must report any of the following:
Please use the online form below to report an illness on board.
The Master of the vessel or the ship surgeon should also complete a Maritime Declaration of Health. Declarations must be fully completed whenever there is a suspected or confirmed case of infectious disease on board a ship arriving in port, or whenever there are animals or captive birds on board the vessel and if they have shown any mortality or signs of infectious disease.
An Aircraft General Declaration must be completed in similar circumstances.
Port Medical Officers are on call to visit vessels and aircraft to enable a diagnosis to be made of the illness and to recommend further action to prevent the spread of the disease.
Pratique is a permission granted to a vessel by the port medical authorities on its arrival from a foreign port. This allows her crew to go ashore and visitors to come onboard.
If a ship is not given free pratique, either because of serious infectious diseases onboard or because the vessel has arrived from an infected zone, it is likely to have quarantine restrictions imposed.
