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Joseph Johnson / Stuff
All but four fishermen who were isolated at the Sudima Christchurch airport hotel have been released.
The release of four isolated Russian and Ukrainian fishermen in a Christchurch hotel has been delayed once again.
The 235 men had been exclusively isolated at the Sudima Christchurch airport hotel, and 31 were infected with Covid-19.
They were initially expected to leave on Tuesday, but their stay was extended because two health workers in the facility’s quarantine wing contracted the virus despite wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
A spokesman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said 230 of the fishermen left the Sudima facility on Saturday. Of the remaining five, one was required to isolate more.
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A spokeswoman for the Health Ministry said on Sunday that one of the fishermen had met all the criteria to be released and would be released on Sunday afternoon.
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Kerri Nuku from the New Zealand Nursing Organization said the system has failed health workers.
He said that if all the sailors passed their health checks, one would be released on Monday afternoon, two on Tuesday and the last on Wednesday.
It was not yet known when exactly the two health workers contracted the virus. The results of the genome sequencing of the first health worker found an exact match for five of the sailors.
Since then, widespread testing has been carried out in Sudima and close contacts of the two health workers have been maintained.
Staff working at the hotel since October 23 had also been tested and all 193 returned negative results.
All close contacts of the first health worker had tested negative and all results received from close contacts of the second worker were negative.
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
One of the fishermen at the Sudima Christchurch airport facility on Friday.
On Saturday, a press release from the Health Ministry confirmed that the results of the second care worker’s genome sequencing also showed clear links to the sailors, but his genome was different from that of the first case.
Both cases had lineages of the virus that had not previously been seen in the New Zealand community.
A second group was also expected to isolate itself in Sudima.
Dr. Ashley Bloomfield previously said that they would not enter the country until the first batch had been cleared and the facility had been thoroughly cleaned.
