Covid 19 coronavirus: four infected on the same New Zealand flight, despite negative test

A new study has detailed how a single traveler infected four others on a flight from Dubai to New Zealand, despite testing negative before boarding the flight.

The New Zealand government-funded study on the flight raises questions about the safety of international travel during the pandemic, even when precautions from pre-flight testing are taken.

The infections occurred on a flight from Dubai to New Zealand in September.

In all, seven cases from the flight were identified in controlled isolation and scientists believe that four of those cases contracted the virus during the 18-hour flight.

There were 86 passengers on board the flight.

Those seven passengers came from five different countries before traveling on the flight from Dubai, but genomic testing suggested that four infections occurred on board, as they carried genome sequences from Switzerland, the country of origin of the source case.

That original case tested negative for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 48 hours before its flight.

David Freedman, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama, told The Washington Post that the case highlights the difficulty of ensuring flights remain virus-free.

“This case speaks to how difficult it is to keep infected people off a flight, even if a PCR test is done in a limited period of time before the flight,” Freedman said.

“The original case probably became infectious after it did the pre-flight test, but was not actually symptomatic until 71 hours after the flight.”

The report also states that “the transmission events occurred despite the reported use of masks and gloves in flight.”

The findings contradict a US Department of Defense study that found that a contagious person would need to sit next to a passenger for at least 54 hours, stating that the risk of transmitting the virus on airplanes was “low.”

“These seven cases were found to be sitting within four rows of each other during the approximately 18-hour flight,” the NZ study states.

“Recent studies have presented conflicting findings on the risks associated with in-flight transmission. Therefore, we undertook a comprehensive investigation to determine the potential source of infection.”

The study results could spell trouble for American travelers as they crowd airports during the nation’s annual Thanksgiving holiday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS ‘Face the Nation on Sunday that “people in airports” despite federal guidance to avoid travel “are going to get us in more trouble than we are now.”

He noted that new Thanksgiving Day Covid-19 cases won’t become apparent until weeks later, making it “very difficult” as the virus spirals out of control and heads toward colder weather and the December holiday season.

– Additional reports, AP