Nearly 100 doctors, dentists and nurses on an Australian CPD cruise have been left stranded in the South Pacific Ocean after Chile closed its ports to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The 17-day combined medical and dental conference was meant to conclude in the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas on Tuesday after touring Antarctica and the Falkland Islands.

But on Sunday, the Chilean Minister of Health announced a ban on all maritime arrivals, leaving the cruise ship, the MS Roald Amundsen, with nowhere to go.

The medical CPD program, organised by a company called Unconventional Conventions, was focused on emergency medicine, respiratory medicine and endocrinology and was accredited with the RACGP.