It's a dilemma faced by countries around the world: how to prevent foreign coronavirus patients stuck on cruise ships from overwhelming your health system while also finding a way of keeping your people safe from a virus which appears to thrive in the confined conditions of an ocean liner.

Japan chose to place the Diamond Princess in quarantine while it was docked in Yokohama — which resulted in more than 700 passengers and crew becoming infected, and seven people dying.

In contrast, Pacific islands like Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu turned away some cruise ships this month because of the health risks, despite the importance of tourism to their national economies.

On Friday WA Premier Mark McGowan claimed he had found a solution: take care of sick patients, negotiate for the other passengers to be flown to their home countries and compel the ship to leave Australian waters.

His Government has this week been grappling with what to do with the Artania cruise ship, a vessel registered in the Bahamas, docked in Germany and run by German tour operator Phoenix Reisen.

The Artania cruise ship was allowed to dock to deal with a medical emergency on board unrelated to COVID-19. ( ABC News: Marcus Alborn )

Until it docked in Fremantle on Thursday night, it had been in Australian waters, between the western port and Rottnest Island, which is being turned into a quarantine facility for Australians.

Seven of its passengers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and a further two are suspected of having the illness.

Extent of coronavirus infection unknown

The ship has about 800 predominantly European passengers and 500 crew on board, mostly from Europe and the Philippines.

Only 25 of these people have been tested, so it's unknown how widely the virus has spread throughout the ship.

As Police Commissioner Chris Dawson bluntly commented on Thursday: "We are to treat the Artania as a ship which is infected with coronavirus."

WA COVID-19 snapshot Confirmed cases so far: 665

Confirmed cases so far: 665 Recovered: 650

Recovered: 650 Deaths: 9

Deaths: 9 Total tests: 405,246 Latest information from the WA Health Department





In a state where cruise ships are having a disproportionate influence on coronavirus infections and deaths, the WA Government was determined that it was not going to have a Ruby Princess incident on its hands.

"We are not going to have another Sydney Harbour fiasco on our watch," Mr McGowan said on Thursday.

The example of the Ruby Princess — where a decision to let 2,700 people disembark from the ship in Sydney two weeks ago, despite cases of COVID-19 on board, led to almost 200 cases across the country — is considered a textbook example of how not to handle this situation.

Passengers were allowed to disembark from the Ruby Princess at Circular Quay in Sydney, 200 of whom were later found to be infected with COVID-19. ( AAP: Dean Lewins )

No community contact for any cruise passenger

The WA solution appears to mean that no passengers will disembark into the WA community:

Foreign passengers will have to stay on board or go directly to the airport to fly home

will have to stay on board or go directly to the airport to fly home West Australians will go into 14-day quarantine on Rottnest Island, and

will go into 14-day quarantine on Rottnest Island, and Australians from other states will either go to Rottnest or be quarantined in a hotel in the city for 14 days until they can return to their home state

It means all those leaving the ship will be closely supervised until they reach a medical facility or the airport.

"We have solved the cruise liner issue better than any other state," Mr McGowan said on Friday.

But Mr McGowan — a former Navy lawyer who is well versed in the laws of the sea — has undoubtedly been involved in a lot of high-level negotiation, including backing down from his strident language just the day before.

A nightmare of diplomatic negotiation

On Thursday he said he wanted the Commonwealth to take responsibility for the ship and its passengers.

But under his new plans, the seven patients infected with COVID-19, as well as the two suspected cases, are to be taken to a WA Government property — the secure Police Academy facility at Joondalup.

The other Artania passengers will be flown back to their European home countries on charter flights over the weekend.

A lot of agencies have helped fix this most complicated issue, from the authority which runs Fremantle Port to the German Government.

Mr McGowan said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had aslo been involved, as had the German Ambassador to Australia and WA Senator Mathias Cormann, who is also the federal Finance Minister.

Premier Mark McGowan has said the Artania was a Commonwealth responsibility. ( ABC News: Marcus Alborn )

University of Wollongong international relations expert Sam Bateman, a former Navy commander, said ultimately "states were always going to look after their own".

"That's obviously a priority and what your State Premier is thinking of," he said.

Dr Bateman said he was concerned about the crew, with recent studies showing crews were linked to the spread of coronavirus on cruise ships.

The Artania situation is a local example of a big problem experienced by many coronavirus-affected cruise ships around the world, according to Australian National University international law expert Donald Rothwell.

He said nations would need to cooperate to fix it.

"There are going to be a whole number of cruise ship passengers who are going to have to be disembarked and passengers repatriated," Professor Rothwell said.

"It may well come down to governments having to do deals with each other, literally, to help each other out. "