Covid-19 coronavirus: Close to 720 high risk Port of Tauranga workers tested

Linda Mangan helping with Covid-19 testing at Port of Tauranga. Photo / George Novak

Close to 720 high priority Port of Tauranga workers have been tested for Covid-19 since Monday.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) completed the testing in advance of the Ministry of Health deadline.

BOPDHB Incident Controller Dr Joe Bourne said close to 720 high priority port workers had been tested at the dedicated testing facility since midday Monday and the team had done an "amazing job"

He said they scaled up their on-site testing capacity on Tuesday and worked hard to get it done.

"We would like to thank all the port workers for their cooperation during this time. We would also like to acknowledge Ngāi te Rangi, the Port of Tauranga and its associated companies along with our primary health organisations, for their help.

"We would also like to acknowledge the phenomenal effort and commitment of the team at Pathlab who are going above and beyond to process COVID-19 swabs for port surveillance and the rest of the community."

Port worker Kaea Timms is tested. Photo / George Novak

Bourne said they would continue to have a presence at the Port of Tauranga during the next few days for other port workers who wish to be tested.

"We will also be making sure that anyone associated with the Port of Tauranga who is required to have ongoing surveillance testing will have easy access to do so. This may be through testing onsite at the port and with other providers in the community."

On Friday, the Ministry of Health ordered up to 6000 Port of Tauranga workers to be tested by midnight on Monday.

The public health order was then amended on Monday night - extending the testing deadline to 11.59pm on August 20 and clarifying "high-risk" workers.

High-risk workers were ones who had direct contact with ships and crews, including shipping agents, pilots and stevedores.

Port workers with symptoms were also considered high risk and had to be tested by the deadline.

Other port workers who did not fall into these categories still needed to be tested but it was no longer a requirement by law and the testing deadline did not apply, said BOPDHB.

The Ministry of Health said the order applied to ports where it was a greater risk and affected Tauranga because it was "the busiest port in New Zealand by freight". Testing was also under way at eight other ports across the country.