Almost 60 per cent of people on board a cruise ship stranded off the coast of Uruguay have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The Greg Mortimer has been stranded in the La Plata River near Montevideo since 27 March, with 128 of the 217 people on board infected by Covid-19.

Many of the cases are passengers from Australia, Europe and the United States, Australian ship operator Aurora Expeditions said.

“There are currently no fevers on board and all are asymptomatic,” it added.

Six people evacuated from the ship are being treated in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo and are said to be in a stable condition.

Marcelo Girard, a doctor at the medical facility where the group is being treated, said those still on the ship are calm but eager to go home.

Uruguay said it has agreed to repatriate 96 Australians and 16 New Zealanders to Melbourne on a charter flight arriving on Thursday.

The passengers will first be transported the 20 miles to Montevideo by boat before they are bussed to the airport, under strict health security measures, a spokesman for Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry said.

They are expected to undergo a 14-day quarantine once they arrive at a facility in Melbourne.

In addition to Australians and New Zealanders, there are people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Jamaica and several European countries aboard, according to official data.

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Uruguay is understood to be talking with the governments of those countries about how and when their citizens will return home.

US and European passengers who tested negative will hopefully be able to depart later in the week, following a second test and permission from the Uruguayan government, Aurora Expeditions said.

Those who tested positive must wait until they test negative before flying home.

The Greg Mortimer departed on 15 March on a voyage to Antarctica and South Georgia titled “In Shacƒkleton’s Footsteps” – a reference to the polar explorer who led British expeditions to the region and died there in 1922.