21 Oct 2020

Seamens' Covid-19 outbreak unusual but not concerning - Baker

From Morning Report, 6:37 am on 21 October 2020

An epidemiologist says it's unusual so many people in a managed isolation facility tested positive for Covid-19 if they isolated and were tested before arriving into New Zealand.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health confirmed 11 people who arrived on a chartered flight from Moscow last week tested positive for the virus with another 14 possible cases being investigated.

The cases were detected during routine day three testing at The Sudima Hotel.

The men, who are here to work on fishing trawlers, self-isolated at home for two weeks and tested negative before leaving Russia.

However Michael Baker, a Professor of public health and an epidemiologist, says we shouldn't be concerned.