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University of Auckland Associate Professor of Public Health Collin Tukuitonga was shocked by this.
“There is clearly a gap there. Even if it contains these people coming from abroad, but obviously there is a potential interaction with people either on the ship or at the dock, so I thought testing would be mandatory.”
Dr. Tukuitonga said it showed that there were still holes that COVID could slip through.
“You’d say that’s a failure because even if we had a really tight system, we still can’t be 100 percent sure the risks don’t exist.”
In a statement, the ministry said that the crew who were flown to New Zealand would be taken directly to the port to join their vessel if it left the port that day, after being picked up by a vehicle with a driver in PPE equipment.
“Since they have no interaction with the community, they don’t need to be tested.”
Those who flew and had a few days before boarding their craft are taken to managed isolation facilities, the ministry said.
“They are isolated in the isolation facility without interaction with other guests or the community. Once it is time to board the ship, they are driven directly to the port. No tests have been required as they will complete the quarantine at sea.”
The Ministry of Health still does not know how long the infected marine electronic engineer spent aboard the Sofrana Surville, nor the extent of contact he had with the crew members.
Before arriving in New Zealand, the ship had stopped in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Brisbane.
After completing work on the Sofrana Surville on Tuesday, the engineer headed to New Plymouth, where he spent six hours of work on the bridge of the timber ship, the Ken Rei, on Wednesday.
They were testing it biweekly, but Dr. Bloomfield said they were now considering whether this should be stepped up, particularly for people, like the one in this case, who spend long periods of time working on ships.
“While you are wearing PPE and the crew is wearing PPE, the duration of that exposure may mean that more regular tests are indicated or tests that are automatically associated with a period, perhaps two or three days after you have worked on a ship.”
The risk to public health is considered low.
The man has four domestic contacts, three close contacts from his hotel stay in New Plymouth and one work contact.
So far, all have tested negative, except for two of the household contacts who have not yet received their results.
Three Port Taranaki staff members who may have had contact with the engineer have also been assessed and are isolating themselves; one has already given a negative result.
New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom said no one was taking it lightly.
“The port is taking this very seriously, New Zealand and the health department are taking it very seriously and I think our people are cooperating, because we are proud of what we have achieved as a nation.”
Meanwhile, the 21 crew members aboard the Ken Rei are being held outside Napier Harbor.
The Health Ministry said they were all considered close contacts, but that the port was still discussing whether to test them on the ship or allow them to dock.
The port of Napier said its refusal to allow the ship to dock was in line with border protection measures.
He said the ship was notified on Sunday morning that it had possible exposure to COVID-19, so it was anchored at sea.
The port said it was on standby to help public health medical personnel get on board and was working to provide care packages to the crew.
Genome sequencing of the virus type shows that it is a new strain never seen before in New Zealand.
RNZ
