Covid 19 coronavirus: More testing at borders after latest outbreak

Hundreds of at-risk border control and quarantine staff have now been tested for Covid-19 as officials grapple with controlling the latest outbreak of the potentially deadly disease.

Pressure has been mounting on the Government for tighter controls at our borders to ensure Covid-19 does not spread into the community from lapses there.

There are 12 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the community and one probable case. One of the 13 cases is in hospital and all of the new cases are linked to the existing cluster.

The source of the latest outbreak is not yet known, but experts believe it is likely to have originated from border or quarantine facilities. Until the outbreak, the only live cases of the virus in New Zealand were of returning travellers in managed quarantine facilities.

The Government has come in for harsh criticism after it emerged only a third of workers at managed isolation or quarantine facilities had previously been tested. Such testing was only made mandatory yesterday.

At today's 1pm press conference, Health Minister Chris Hipkins revealed that tests for staff deemed high risk at our borders and the MIQ facilities had been prioritised. High risk was defined as those on the front line who were likely to have contact with returning travellers.

He said 280 people at Auckland International had been tested, which included Customs, Immigration and Ministry of Primary Industries staff.

He said 500 people at the Ports of Auckland were tested yesterday, which included most Customs and frontline staff there.

Hipkins said 1435 staff out of a total of 2459 at MIQ facilities had been tested in the past 48 hours, and more would be tested today.

In response to criticism that had not happened earlier, Hipkins said he wished testing had started earlier.

But experts say those measures along are not enough.

And one expert has called on the scientific community to be mobilised to help manage the crisis.

University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker believes elimination of the virus could be achieved soon, but tens of millions of dollars needed to be spent to give the best chance of managing future outbreaks.

He has called for an inquiry into the pandemic and our response - not to find fault, but to learn how to manage future outbreaks.

Professor Michael Baker, of the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago. Photo / Supplied

"Considering what's at stake, I think we need to put a lot more resources into all of the elements around tracking, evaluating and refining our response," Baker said.

"I just feel we're not even doing half enough of the work we should be doing ... I'd put a lot more into the surveillance and data science point of things.

"We should have scores of scientists working on how to refine this response and avoid outbreaks from occurring again and that's not the case."

It should be a focus given there is no timeline on when a vaccine or effective therapeutics may be developed.

Baker said there needed to be a strong focus on the MIQ facilities.

"We really need to look at tightening up what happens at these facilities," Baker said.

"There are huge benefits in testing staff at the borders and the facilities because that's how the virus will get out."

Staff and contractors working at our borders and MIQs are required to wear masks at all times within two metres of returnees, a MIQ spokesperson told the Herald.

Physical distancing, basic hygiene measures, training and provision of appropriate PPE was also enforced to protect workers.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Any staff who reported symptoms consistent with Covid-19 must stay home, get tested and self-isolate until the result is received.

Asymptomatic testing was being made available for Customs, Immigration, Biosecurity, cleaning, transport, retail, and security staff at the border.

Nurses were also given regular health checks and were offered testing for Covid-19.

However, all border staff will now be required to take regular Covid-19 tests, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this week.

Baker thinks it's important to have a multi-layered defence in place which would enable any sloppiness to be resolved quickly.

Part of this includes testing of people arriving in New Zealand - or even before they do. MIQs and border staff should also be tested often.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"If you're finding people who are positive in the community, the outbreak has happened and by the time you detect it, it's often a few generations on," he said.

"There are huge benefits in testing staff at the borders and the facilities because that's how the virus will get out.

"You have to test them regularly because if you don't, there's that long period where they might be infecting people if you don't [test] them often, say weekly."

An inquiry was necessary to look for errors which could be improved on to enhance responses in the future.

"I know everyone has been preoccupied with the response but I think the difficulty is knowing when to step back," he told the Herald.

"We mustn't lose the opportunity to review the whole pandemic response; systematically working through all of the options for minimising this external threat."

"We should have scores of scientists working on how to refine this response and avoid outbreaks from occurring again and that's not the case."

It's thought the latest round of lockdown measures will cost the economy about $440 million per week or 0.15 per cent of annual GDP.

"These errors cost hundreds of millions of dollars. We should be spending tens of millions of dollars to avoid this happening [and] it's not occurring," Baker said.

"There should be a major research strategy around our response and also mechanisms for managing our scientific effort.

"Another concern I've noticed is we're not putting enough time into reviewing our response and researching better ways of doing things."