⁍ A no-sail order issued in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic expires on Saturday.

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⁍ The CDC said it was requiring testing and additional safeguards for crew members.

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⁍ The no-sail order issued in March came amid a rising number of coronavirus cases on cruise ships.

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– A ban on US-flagged cruise ships that was put in place in March due to an outbreak of the virus known as coronavirus expires tomorrow, but the CDC says it will allow a ” phased return to cruise ship passenger operations,” Reuters reports. The first phase will involve “simulated voyages to test cruise ship operators’ ability to mitigate COVID-19 risk, certification for ships that meet specific requirements, and a phased return to cruise ship passenger operations,” the CDC said in a statement. The House is investigating whether the White House blocked the CDC from extending the no-sail order through mid-February. The CDC says it will also require testing and additional safeguards for crew members. “The insidious nature of COVID-19 and the physical infrastructure constraints on cruise ships makes containing potential outbreaks on board these ships an incredibly difficult task even with the best practices and procedures in place,” Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chair of the House subcommittee on maritime transportation, wrote in a letter to the CDC last month, warning that “cruise ships continue to be an unsafe environment with close quarters where the disease spreads easily and is not readily detected.”