Almost a hundred port workers in Tauranga are needing to undergo Covid-19 testing, after crew onboard a ship that had previously docked in the port tested positive.
The Ministry of Health confirmed earlier today that 11 of the 21 crew onboard the Rio De La Plata container ship had contracted Covid-19.
The 98 port workers came into contact with the ship while unloading cargo in shifts when it was berthed at the Port of Tauranga last Wednesday through to Saturday.
This afternoon, it was confirmed by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins that nine of the workers were fully vaccinated, with a further two having had one jab.
It's understood by the Ministry of Health that the correct PPE and infection protection protocols were carried out by the port workers when unloading the vessel.
At least 11 of the 21 crew onboard the Rio De La Plata have the virus.
Nearly two-dozen negative tests from workers had come back already, Hipkins said.
All have been told to self-isolate while awaiting a negative test result. The Ministry says some workers will need to have a second test and keep isolating until the second result returns negative.
National’s Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop today released statistics revealing around 60 per cent of port workers in the Bay of Plenty are yet to receive their first vaccine dose.
Of the 530 port workers in the region, 319 have not had any doses of the vaccine, according to local DHB numbers as of July 22.
“This is incredibly concerning. Frontline workers were meant to have been vaccinated months ago. We have a glaring hole in our border," Bishop said.
Bay of Plenty with our largest port workforce has 60 per cent of their workers unvaccinated, that’s higher than the average for all port workers, which is still shockingly at 40 per cent unvaccinated, Bishop said.
“Given the extraordinarily low rate of vaccinated port workers in the Bay of Plenty, why wasn’t the crew tested before the ship was allowed to berth?"
Jacinda Ardern said failure to comply with the mandate "may mean job loss".
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had been barriers to getting all port workers vaccinated, including misinformation.
From August 26, all border workers must be vaccinated, even those working for private companies.
"It may mean job loss," she said.
Meanwhile there are no new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, with two new cases in managed isolation and quarantine.
The two cases travelled together from Iraq via Qatar, arriving in the country yesterday. They both tested positive during routine testing on their first day in MIQ.
Ten previously reported cases have now recovered, bringing the total number of active infections to 36.
There have now been a total of 2534 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic begun.
SHARE ME