Carnival to restart some U.S. cruises on Aug. 1

Photo: Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

Carnival announced Monday it will restart some cruises departing from the U.S. on Aug. 1.

Why it matters: Cruise ships, including some under Carnival's Princess brand, became hot beds for coronavirus infections earlier this year, resulting in thousands of infections and dozens of deaths around the world, per the Miami Herald.

What's happening: The company said that eight ships will begin services from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston on Aug. 1, while other North American and Australian trips remain canceled through Aug. 31.

  • In its announcement, Carnival said the decision was meant to begin "a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of homeports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests."
  • It also said it would "use this additional time to continue to engage experts, government officials and stakeholders on additional protocols and procedures to protect" its guests and crew.

Go deeper: Carnival CEO defends coronavirus response

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

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Why it matters: World Organization official Tarik Jarasevic told a UN briefing in Geneva Tuesday that the displacement of some 300,000 people from the deadly explosion in Beirut's port could lead to a surge in cases. A UN report warns the emergency "has caused many COVID-19 precautionary measures to be relaxed, raising the prospects of even higher transmission rates and a large caseload in coming weeks," Reuters notes.