WA Premier Mark McGowan has again urged a cruise ship docked in Fremantle to leave, saying he fears more potential COVID-19 cases among the 464 foreign nationals left on board the vessel may overwhelm the state's health system.

Key points: The Artania wants to stay at Fremantle Port for another two weeks

The Artania wants to stay at Fremantle Port for another two weeks There are reports nine more crew members are unwell

There are reports nine more crew members are unwell The WA Premier says Fremantle is not a cruise ship safe haven

The Artania is already responsible for more than 40 coronavirus cases in WA hospitals.

The crew members remain on board the German ship nine days after the crisis began when it was told to anchor offshore amid reports of illness on board,

Most passengers were flown home to Frankfurt on charter flights on Sunday.

WA COVID-19 snapshot Confirmed cases so far: 661

Confirmed cases so far: 661 Recovered: 648

Recovered: 648 Deaths: 9

Deaths: 9 Total tests: 392,908 Latest information from the WA Health Department





None of the passengers or crew from the vessel are Australian.

The Artania has been directed by the Australian Border Force (ABF) to depart Fremantle, but its crew has responded by saying they want to remain for another two weeks.

Mr McGowan told ABC Radio Perth the ship had requested it be disinfected, but he urged the Commonwealth to coordinate an urgent departure as soon as possible.

"What you don't want is have ships arrive and then overwhelm the health system, so that's why I want the Artania to go," he said.

The Australian Border Force (ABF) has confirmed 12 crew members, none of them critical to the vessel's operation, were today tested for COVID-19 and had been isolated to await the results.

"Those sorts of things concern me because obviously you don't want the illness to spread around the ship and 450 people to get sick, and then our hospital system would not cope," Mr McGowan said.

"I'd just say to the ship: 'We'd like you to leave, we don't want you in our port.'"

Crew members will stay on board: ABF

ABF Commissioner Michael Outram said the Artania's crew members could be safely quarantined on board.

Talks are underway to see if non-essential crew members can be flown to their home countries. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

He told 6PR radio that the WA Health Department's director of communicable disease control, Paul Armstrong, boarded the vessel yesterday and reached that conclusion alongside the ship's doctor.

"We don't need to bring them all off, there's a lot of room on that vessel," Mr Outram said.

"There's about 12 or 15 of the crew who are critical to the safe operation of the vessel, you could imagine they are engineers and navigators and those sorts of people.

"Those 12 or 15 people are being kept separate from the rest of the crew and we're going to make sure now that we keep it that way."

Mr Outram said medical advice suggested there was no reason to believe those crucial crew members had been exposed to COVID-19.

He also said it was expected contractors would soon be able to board the ship and begin disinfecting it.

Further evacuation flights flagged

Mr Outram said talks were underway to see if other non-essential crew members could be flown to their home countries in the coming days on charter flights.

The cruise ship has been docked at Fremantle Port since last Friday after initially anchoring offshore. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

"There are also here a lot of crew that aren't mission critical, we've got obviously people who play in bands and people in entertainment, men and women who do those sorts of jobs," he said.

"A lot of them are from the Philippines and there's quite a few from Indonesia, so we are working through with the ship's owners and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to see if we can get any of those people off the ship and home."

Mr Outram said although it was a German ship, many of the crew were from south Asian nations.

"They hail from all over, 294 of them are from the Philippines and 63 are from Indonesia," he said.

"So to get about 300 or 350 people off the ship would be pretty good in my opinion, if we could achieve that.

"We are working towards that, but at the same time of course working towards getting the ship underway, with the crew that are left on board, back to Germany."

ABF reluctant to 'push Artania out to sea'

Mr Outram said he trusted the intentions of the ship's crew in asking for permission to remain docked in Fremantle were to ensure the ship could leave Australian waters safely.

"This ship and the owners and the men and women on board the ship have asked us for help," he said.

"I would be really reluctant to force the issue and push it out to sea where I thought there was a risk to life at sea in those circumstances.

"If it puts under sail and then in the middle of the Indian Ocean there is an outbreak of COVID-19 on board, particularly in relation to the people who are critical to the safe operation of the ship, then that would be problematic.

"That's probably why the ship's owners have asked me for two weeks, so that they can quarantine those 12 people for two weeks, make sure that they are match fit and that the ship can get under way safely."

Leftover passengers quarantined at Perth hotel

Eight remaining passengers were taken off the ship yesterday after they did not catch a charter flight to Germany on Sunday and stayed on board the Artania without the State Government's knowledge.

The eight remaining passengers were transferred to the Novotel hotel in Perth's CBD yesterday. ( ABC News: James Carmody )

They were loaded onto a bus and driven under police escort to the Novotel hotel on Murray Street in Perth, where they will undergo quarantine.

At the hotel they were escorted inside by AUSMAT medical staff and greeted by people in full-body protective clothing.

The first confirmed coronavirus patients were removed from the Artania last Friday, while another 29 passengers and crew who tested positive were taken to Joondalup Health Campus on Monday.

Coronavirus patients from the Artania arrived at Joondalup Health Campus on Monday. ( ABC News: Herlyn Kaur )

Seven of them were in intensive care units at that point — three at Joondalup and four at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Fremantle no 'safe haven': Premier

Mr McGowan said he was open to plans to fly crew members back to their home countries.

"I'm saying to the Commonwealth Government, we want you to get this ship underway," he said.

"As long as the ship leaves … if there's medevac for people who might be unwell back to Germany or to wherever they have to go then that's good, but as long as it doesn't leave the ship sitting in our harbour."

The Premier said he wanted to send a strong message to cruise ships in waters around the world that Fremantle was not a "safe haven" and they would not be welcome in WA.

"I don't want us to be seen as a soft touch. It's not our role to take in any cruise ship that might feel like they'd have to come here," he said.