Covid 19 coronavirus: Air New Zealand, Ministry of Health investigates a case at the Shanghai mission

Air New Zealand says a crew member who tested positive for Covid-19 in Shanghai may have contracted it while in the Chinese city a week earlier.

The cabin crew member tested positive during a test at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport on November 22 after testing negative in a pre-flight test in this country four days earlier.

The positive test was confirmed upon his return to New Zealand, but the infection cannot be linked to any case in this country.

The airline’s medical director, Ben Johnston, said Auckland Regional Public Health and the Health Ministry were leading the investigation.

“They are looking back at a previous trip the crew member had made to Shanghai,” he said.

Earlier this week, two positive cases among cargo workers in Pudong reportedly caused chaos at the airport when it closed with 18,000 employees.

Johnston said the requirements for aircrew were very strict in Shanghai, where Air New Zealand maintains basic service.

Personnel are escorted off the aircraft, tested for Covid, and then taken to a state-run quarantine hotel where they are kept in their rooms. Food is delivered to your doorstep. He said they were followed by health personnel, who sprayed disinfectant where they had been.

“We are aware of some cases in cargo operations around the Shanghai airport, but not in areas where our aircrew would have been. That is an open line of investigation.”

China is not considered a “higher risk” country for the airline, where strict rules apply to the returning crew.

The United States is listed as higher risk and Air New Zealand flies to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The airline said today that the Covid-positive crew member had not flown there recently.

Johnston said the source of the infection may never be known, as in the case of the August group that originated from cases at Americold in Auckland.

“Sometimes this happens.”

There were a few passengers on the flight, but he didn’t know how many.

He said the Air New Zealand crew had been Covid-free for seven and a half months, showing how “incredibly” careful the staff had been.

He said that no other Air New Zealand crew in quarantine or in controlled isolation or in home isolation had tested positive for Covid since testing positive earlier this week.

The airline and health authorities were reviewing prevention measures during flights and stopovers abroad, as well as restrictions when the crew returns. Johnston said the crew member had followed all the rules.

The entire crew was fine, he said.

The crew could undergo pre-flight testing at GPs, community testing centers, and at an airline facility at Auckland Airport, where tests are performed in accordance with and sent to public health guidelines. labs than everyone else.

The Health Ministry has said that while genome sequencing showed they likely contracted the virus abroad, it was not yet known when or where.

Today he said 17 close contacts of the crew member had been identified. Eleven were negative and the test results of six people were pending.

The ministry requires New Zealand-based aircrews overseas to follow a long list of conditions including:

• Wear personal protective equipment at all times (to the maximum extent possible) while working in a role that involves direct interaction with aircraft passengers or while you are anywhere other than on an aircraft or in your room ( or the room of a crewmate) in the accommodation where the aircrew member is staying.

• Maintain a physical distance of 2 m or more from all people (to the greatest extent possible) other than people on an aircraft on which the crew member is working or the crew members.

• Travel directly to any accommodation where they are staying.

• Comply with self-isolation standards in accommodation until required to travel from there.

• Comply with the conditions of the overseas area of ​​operations after arriving in a country outside of New Zealand, even if you are not staying in any accommodation before leaving the country or if you are staying in any accommodation in the area of ​​operations of an airport before leaving the country.

New rules were established last month for returning crew, including a requirement that those returning from high-risk locations (the US) self-isolate for at least 48 hours after their return and until they have received a negative test.

Additional weekly surveillance tests were also introduced for some New Zealand-based low-risk international aircrews.