US Navy Says 94% of Crew on Aircraft Carrier Roosevelt Tested, 655 Have COVID-19

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Nine-four percent of the crew on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have been tested for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) revealing that 655 have contracted the virus, the US Navy said in a press release on Thursday.

"As of today, 94 percent of USS Theodore Roosevelt crew members have been tested for COVID-19, with 655 positive and 3,919 negative results", the release said. "4,059 sailors have moved ashore".

The Navy said six sailors are currently hospitalised in the Naval Hospital Guam and one has been placed in an Intensive Care Unit.

In a separate press release, the US Navy said 80 percent of the ship has been cleaned and disinfected.

On Monday, the US Navy said a sailor assigned to the ship had died due to complications from COVID-19.

The outbreak was first made public when an email written by the ship's captain Brett Crozier was leaked to the media. The email warned of an outbreak among the crew and said there was an urgent need to quarantine affected sailors.

Last Thursday, former Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced that he removed Crozier from his post, saying the captain improperly sent the email about his concerns, using channels that were not secure to convey confidential information.

Modly later resigned after coming under fire for removing the captain and calling him "stupid" for sounding the alarm about the COVID-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier.