Seven more newly arrived international fishermen have tested positive for Covid-19 in a Christchurch quarantine hotel in New Zealand.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Wednesday there were 18 positive cases in the facility and health officials were expecting more on Thursday.
There were 25 new cases of coronavirus across New Zealand on Wednesday; three unrelated imported cases in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch and two more quarantined in Auckland.
In the community, two workplace contacts of an Auckland port worker found to have Covid-19 on Sunday also tested positive.
On Tuesday, a Ministry of Health spokesperson told Stuff there were 11 positive cases at the Sudima facility, picked up on routine day three testing. Fourteen more were under investigation at the time.
Stuff previously reported about 440 fishermen from Russia and Ukraine were due to arrive on two flights chartered by fishing companies the first of which is thought to have touched down from Moscow via Singapore on Friday.
Many of the 237 people on that flight have been isolating at the Sudima Hotel, near Christchurch Airport, since their arrival.
The ministry spokesperson confirmed all people staying at the Sudima facility were part of the same group.
On Wednesday, Bloomfield said the crew members spent two weeks in self-isolation in Russia and Ukraine, and were tested prior to departure.
Two were prevented from boarding after testing positive for coronavirus.
The ministry is actively following up the quality of the tests taken in Russia.
If it was a good quality test, they may have picked it up before boarding the plane but after they were swabbed, Bloomfield said.
At least one person who boarded that plane was infectious. There may have been transmission on the plane, there may have been transmission when they arrived here. But the important thing is we do everything the same anyway and the fact we found these infections is the system working.
Bloomfield said health authorities were liaising with their fisheries colleagues, and those in charge of managed isolation, about whether there would be any extra restrictions for the second charter flight coming from Russia.
We will look at that but the system is working here. While there might still be pre-departure testing, it won’t change anything we do at this end, which is following absolutely rigid isolation and testing.
The key thing will be the timing of that flight, because the same facility will be used. So we will obviously need to make sure we are confident before anyone leaves that facility, that they are free of the virus.
The positive cases have been moved into a dedicated quarantine wing in the Sudima and several of their crew mates are being treated as close contacts.
Most people in the hotel are actually in twin rooms those in the same rooms are being considered close contacts.
We are adding additional day six testing for this group and they may also have to stay [in managed isolation] for some additional time.
Bloomfield said there would also be extra testing available for Sudima staff and their families, as well as staff at Christchurch Airport and at the bus company that transported them to the hotel.
New Zealand health officials currently consider Russia a high risk location.
The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre? reports there have been more than 1.4 million cases of Covid-19 in Russia and 24,473 deaths.
On October 19 alone there were 15,843 new cases.
2020 Stuff Limited