The New Zealand cleaner who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday worked on planes that left for Australia, according to the county’s Director of Public Health.
The case worked on red and green zone planes, which included those that were used when the travel bubble opened up on Monday.
“The person who has become infected works at cleaning planes from international flights, this includes countries that are deemed red zones where COVID-19 is widespread,” Dr Caroline McElnay said.
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“But also includes having cleaned green zone planes flying back to Australia on Monday - this is the same protocol that is used in Australia.
“The person wore full PPE while cleaning and we have been in touch with Australian authorities to notify them about this case.”
Their assessment deemed there were no additional risks to those who travelled on the flights cleaned by the infected person.
NZ Minister for COVID-19 Chris Hipkins also spoke about the worker’s infection in the press conference on Wednesday.
“Ultimately the risk of someone who is cleaning a plane .. the chance of them passing on an infection is minimal if there is any at all,” he said.
“The chances of them picking up the virus, of course, is minimal as well.
“We will consider changing the system if the investigation highlights that there is a need to.”
Genomic sequencing
Genomic sequencing has now provided more information on the airport worker’s infection.
It’s been revealed the case is “linked” to a returned traveller from Ethiopia.
“We have confirmed the worker announced as a case yesterday did clean the same plane the person from Ethiopia arrived on,” NZ’s Ministry of Health said in a statement.
“While there is a clear link to a known case of COVID-19, we are still investigating how the cleaner was infected.
“The whole-genome sequence was indistinguishable from that of a person who arrived in the country on 10 April from Ethiopia via the United Arab Emirates.
“The genome of both these cases is the B.1.1.7 – which is the variant first identified in the UK.”
The statement also revealed the case had worked three shifts while infectious with the virus.
“The person worked three shifts during their infectious period with a number of colleagues, and officials are working to determine who is a close contact from their interactions,” it said.
The worker has received both doses of the COVID vaccine, which means the risk to the community is low.
New Zealand recorded no further cases on Wednesday, despite a number of the case’s close contacts being tested.
“The border worker reported yesterday has 25 close contacts identified to date – the seven who have been tested so far have returned negative results,” the statement said.
“All close contacts are self-isolating.”