The Government is receiving advice on whether pre-departure Covid-19 testing results from India can be trusted after a spate of cases on a weekend flight into New Zealand.
Twelve border cases arrived in a single flight from India via Dubai that touched down in Auckland on Saturday, with an additional eight cases recorded in the last week after returning via this journey.
Hipkins said the flight in question, from Dubai, was still needed because it brought medical supplies into New Zealand.
“We are seeing quite a few cases coming through that, it’s an Emirates flight that tends to bring a lot of people from India, we do see quite a high concentration of cases from that,” Hipkins said.
“Having said that, it is a very full flight, some of the other flights coming in may only have a few cases on them but they’re also half empty sometimes, this is a very full flight and it’s obviously coming from a country where Covid-19 is rampant.”
Hipkins said he was getting advice on the testing regime in India, but said the pre-departure testing rules which require people to get tested 72 hours before departing for New Zealand were not a “failsafe”.
“I am getting some advice on the pre-departure testing, whether or not we have full confidence in the test results or whether there is any evidence that system is being abused,” he said.
“It’s important to remember though that pre-departure testing is not a failsafe, 72 hours before departure is the timeframe we give somebody, it is still possible to contract Covid and get a positive test result by the time you arrive in New Zealand bearing in mind that if you’re travelling a long way there’s another 24 hours.”
“The fact that we’re seeing a reasonably significant proportion of cases coming through that particular travel path testing positive either in day 0 or day three, that doesn’t in itself tell us that pre-departure testing isn’t performing as it should.”
Hipkins said the number of cases found in managed isolation and quarantine was up to around 800 in total across 125,000 people that have returned to New Zealand.
“It’s a very low proportion of cases we’ve seen coming through.’
The Government would not look at limiting or capping returnees from any region even if case numbers from that region were high, Hipkins said.
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