Covid 19 Coronavirus: Another Covid Positive Fisherman; cluster source identified

New Zealand has a new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation.

The Health Ministry said the new case was a member of the group of Russian and Ukrainian sailors who tested positive.

This person was a close contact of a previously reported case from the group that had tested positive during testing on day 6 and as such was already being closely monitored.

More than 400 sailors arrived in New Zealand in mid-October on a charter flight to work on fishing boats. Within the first three days of his arrival, a major Covid-19 outbreak caused his managed isolation facility to crash with 30 sailors now testing positive for the infection.

The ministry said the new case “gives us confidence that the standard practice for handling cases and contacts within managed isolation, complemented by the extension of the isolation period and additional testing, was the correct approach to take in the circumstances.”

The tests on the 15th would be carried out this weekend of all the members of the group who are not yet confirmed cases.

“All those who meet our low risk indicators, which include those who have recovered or have consistently obtained negative results during their stay, will be eligible to leave managed isolation as of next Tuesday, November 3.”

Cluster source identified

It has been a fortnight since our most recent community outbreak when a marine engineer contracted Covid symptoms, testing positive on October 16.

Today, the Ministry said genome sequencing confirmed he was infected while working on the ship Sofrana Surville which then traveled back to Australia.

Testing of the ship’s crew in Queensland yielded the genome subtype linked to the Auckland case, the ministry said.

“The Brisbane sequence was a mutation earlier than the sequenced genomes of our New Zealand cases. This supports our view that the index case in this group was infected by exposure on board to new crew members who joined Sofrana. Surville in Auckland.

“We are continuing to investigate the exact circumstances in which the infection may have occurred to report any changes to protocols designed to keep workers and our communities safe.”

Three others connected to the 27-year-old initially through their workplace and then spreading to their domestic contacts fell ill in the group considered the group of marine engineers.

Despite health concerns, extensive self-isolation and increased testing at North Auckland businesses, including a Greenhithe pub, The Malt, which was closed for a fortnight, potential community broadcast appears to have stemmed from the quartet.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced that the crew of a second ship the man worked on in New Plymouth had undergone extensive testing and all had returned a second negative result.

The crew of the freighter Ken Rei had been awaiting their period of self-isolation off the coast of Napier.

The ship left Napier yesterday for Tauranga.

Confirmed cases

The total number of confirmed cases from New Zealand is now 1,594.

Now three cases have been recovered, which means that the total number of active cases is 68.

Yesterday, our labs completed 7,472 tests for Covid-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,090,702.

This is the second consecutive day of more than 7,000 completed tests.

“It is good to see a sustained response to the call for anyone with symptoms to get tested,” the ministry said.

There are now 2,333,600 registered users on NZ Covid Tracer.

The app has logged a total of 102,697,098 poster scans and users have created a total of 4,301,876 manual journal entries.

“The more we scan, the safer we will be,” the ministry said.

“The faster we respond, the faster we stop Covid-19.”

Maritime crew tests

Today, Health Minister Chris Hipkins moved to further reinforce the risk of the infection spreading across the border with the introduction of mandatory tests for all foreign maritime crews.

It will start from next week with any maritime crew in isolation administered for more than 24 hours requiring a Covid-19 test.

At the same time, foreign maritime crews leaving New Zealand will also be tested.

Previously, testing was only done if a crew member stayed in New Zealand for an extended period.

Meanwhile, New Zealand authorities were continuing to work with their Japanese counterparts regarding a New Zealand boy who tested weak positive for Covid-19 after his arrival in Japan last Friday.

At this stage, health officials suspect a historical case or false positive result, and were required to provide more details when available.

As of yesterday there had been no community cases for seven days and all new cases contained in managed isolation had recently arrived in New Zealand from abroad.

Seventy people remained ill with Covid-19 in New Zealand yesterday.

There have been 1,593 confirmed cases in New Zealand since the outbreak started in February.