Covid 19 coronavirus: Five people in India test negative for virus, test positive upon arrival in New Zealand

By RNZ’s Matthew Theunissen

Five people who tested positive for Covid-19 in isolation facilities in New Zealand tested negative before leaving India.

The five new cases detected in isolation yesterday stayed in an isolation hotel in New Delhi for three days, prior to their flight to Christchurch, and all were tested before they were allowed to board the plane.

The National Party wants it to be mandatory for people to take the test before leaving another country to fly to New Zealand.

But Auckland University professor of medicine Des Gorman said the latest cases showed why such a testing regimen would not be a silver bullet for the highly infectious virus.

Rohit Sharma was on the flight from India via Fiji, landing in Christchurch on August 27.

Along with other passengers, he had been quarantined in New Delhi, where everyone was to be tested for Covid-19.

“Those who [tested] positive could not take that flight, only those who had a negative Covid test boarded, “he told RNZ’s First Up.

It was a huge surprise to Sharma that five of those on the plane with him tested positive for Covid once in New Zealand.

“They went through the New Delhi airport. They may have been in contact with someone there, or maybe they used the toilets,” he said.

“They were all wearing a mask, but we still can’t say where they got this virus.”

Gorman said Sharma’s story highlighted the need for layers of defenses against the coronavirus.

“One of the explanations, of course, is that they got infected in transit. The other is that they had a false negative test when they left India. So I think from a public health point of view, the pre-flight tests they would not see it as a single line of defense: it is one of multiple lines of defense.

“But the public health argument is that if you are infected with this disease you should be in quarantine, not go through departure lounges, sit on airplanes with other people, regardless of attempts at social distancing and the use of masks.”

Supports mandatory testing before travel as part of New Zealand’s arsenal to protect people from Covid.

“If we are not going to completely destroy our economy, if we are not going to destroy our livelihoods and our well-being, then we must have the safest border possible to minimize the probability of having to close society.

“The only way to do it is to have multiple lines of defense. Pre-testing is just one of those lines of defense.”

As of yesterday, there were 132 active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand and 33 of these were imported cases in quarantine facilities, while 99 were community cases.