Coronavirus Covid-19: 10 of the 12 cases imported from an Air India flight

Twelve new imported cases of Covid-19 were reported yesterday, 10 of which arrived on the same flight from India less than a week ago.

Public Health Director Dr. Caroline McElnay said the group of 10 people who returned infected could be the highest number of cases reported in one day on a single flight.

It was possible that more travelers aboard Air India flight AI1354 tested positive for Covid-19, he said.

The 10 returnees, who arrived in New Zealand on Sept. 26, tested positive for the virus around their third day in controlled isolation, McElnay said.

“Our most likely theory is that these are people who were infected in India before the flight,” he said.

They were all scattered aboard the plane, sitting between rows 14 and 41, and genomic testing was underway to help establish a chain of transmission, he said.

It comes after 17 returnees from a single inbound flight from India tested positive for Covid-19 while in isolation.

That Air India flight from Delhi landed in New Zealand on August 23.

Yesterday McElnay said the dozen new Covid-19 cases at the border reflected flights returning to New Zealand from locations with a higher level of Covid-19.

McElnay says the assumption is that anyone entering New Zealand can be contagious and every step of the process reflects this.

The global number of Covid cases has exceeded 33 million, with a death toll of more than a million people. India has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world, 6.3 million; The US has had 7.2 million cases. More than 98,000 people have died in India, the third highest number in the world.

McElnay said Air India flight AI1354 was conducted by Air India, with its international crew in controlled isolation when they arrived, which is now standard practice.

“I think they were there for two days,” he said. “They were transported to controlled isolation, [they] stay there and then get back on a plane and go back to India. “

An Air India spokesperson previously told the Herald that the airline was in compliance with all safety and health at all destination points for each and every flight it operates.

“All passengers are examined individually and no passenger is allowed to board with the slightest symptoms,” he said.

“Air India has been and will continue to take the utmost precaution and adheres to health and safety protocols for all its passengers and crew on all flights it undertakes to operate.”

McElnay said he did not have the number of people who had come to New Zealand from India since the last outbreak.

However, the Health Ministry was looking to gather figures to help with its assessment of high-risk countries, he said.

“We are also looking to extract the data from recent flights to see how it matches the level of risk in those countries.”

However, they still do not have the results of the flight to India.

“When we get those results, we can look and see if there is anything in the genomic evidence that might suggest an in-flight transmission,” McElnay said.

The Health Ministry continued to review the advice it provides for handling newcomers to the country, including high-risk ones, he said.

There was a variety of advice he was gathering, he said, including whether pre-departure testing is necessary.

But some of the rapid tests used abroad were not as accurate as the ones the ministry preferred to use in New Zealand, he said.

The other two imported cases announced on Thursday were a returnee from the United States who arrived on September 26 and a returnee from the Philippines via Taiwan on September 23.

The American returnee tested positive on his third day in controlled isolation, while the Philippine returnee was tested because he was someone’s contact with Covid-19.
On Wednesday they tested positive for the virus.

A baby less than 1 year old was included in today’s 12 new cases. The oldest was in his 70s.

Children younger than 12 months were not always tested for the virus, and it is not necessary either, McElnay said.

New Zealand now has 53 active cases – 42 have been imported, the remainder were in the community. There are 1,492 confirmed cases that have been reported to the World Health Organization.

A person remains in the hospital with Covid-19. They are in a general isolation ward at Middlemore Hospital.

Fourteen people are isolating themselves at a community Auckland quarantine facility, which includes five people who have tested positive for the virus.