After months of urging that ports should be treated like airports for Covid-19 security, New Zealand port companies have been stunned to receive an order from director general of health Ashley Bloomfield for all maritime border staff to be tested for the virus in the next three days.
The ports,
through the port companies chief executives group, along with maritime unions, say they have been asking the Ministry of Health since the end of the first lockdown for sea borders to be treated like aviation borders.
Bloomfield's letter, sent today, said the ministry would work with regional DHBs to provide testing on site "as a matter of urgency".
"Testing is for all people who work ports around New Zealand who might potentially come into contact with ships' crew ... " the letter said.
For New Zealand's biggest port at Tauranga, the order means around 2000 staff and workers must be tested by close of business on Monday.
