Container ship off Qld coast could be carrying a unknown strain of COVID-19 as border bubble set to expand
A sailor on a ship has tested positive to a virus strain not seen before in Australia as Qld records one new case and considers expanding border bubble with NSW.
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There are fears crew on a container ship anchored off Queensland could be carrying a strain of COVID-19 never seen before in Australia.
The Sofrana Surville was prevented from docking in Brisbane, and was instead anchored off the coast of Mooloolaba on Thursday.
It comes as Queensland recorded just one new case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a man in his 30s in hotel quarantine who has recently returned from Kenya.
There are just five active cases in the state, and almost 6000 tests were carried out on Tuesday.
In contrast, NSW recorded 10 new cases, two of which were locally acquired, and Victoria recorded three new cases.
Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said the state’s border zone with NSW could be extended as soon as next week, ahead of the state fully opening to its southern neighbour.
Earlier this month, the border zone, which was initially set up to allow ease of access for border residents when Queensland closed its borders to NSW on August 8, was extended.
As a result, residents from five shires in NSW were allowed to enter Queensland providing they had a truthful border declaration pass, and Queensland residents able to travel within the zone.
Mr Miles told reporters on Wednesday morning the decision on extending the border zone, and fully opening the border, would include sewage testing and the location of “mystery” COVID-19 cases.
As part of Queensland’s plan to COVID-recovery, the border to NSW could open on November 1 if there were 28 days of unlinked community transmitted cases in the state.
“It’s not a binary decision, there’s a whole series of decisions here,” Mr Miles said.
“The CHO will continue to monitor the situation in other states and provide advice and make decisions in the lead-up to what we announced in the road map was an intention to expand the borders come November 1.
“The concern in NSW continues to be those cases of unlinked transmission... We’ll (als0) review the situation in Victoria.
“I know people want to boil it down to one simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but it’s not that simple.”
All 19 crew members on board the vessel will be tested by Queensland Health on Wednesday after an engineer, who worked on-board, tested positive in New Zealand on Saturday.
It’s believed he caught the virus while working on the Sofrana Surville off Auckland on October 12 and 13.
General manager of Maritime Safety Queensland, Angus Mitchell, said the container ship’s crew members would be tested for COVID-19 and would also undergo serology testing.
He said the vessel first entered Queensland’s waters on Monday, after departing New Zealand and travelling via Noumea in New Caledonia.
“An engineer who worked on this vessel and another has tested positive … it is a strain they haven’t seen in New Zealand before,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“They are still trying to work out where he got it from, but either of the two international visiting ships are an obvious place.
“So, out of an abundance of caution, we’re testing (crew in Queensland waters). There has been no reports of illness on board.”
Mr Miles said they would continue to seek advice from New Zealand, but it was unlikely initial testing had been able to determine whether the strain was “new”.
“We know there are a number of different strains circulating, and up until now strain variation has been used to identify linking cases,” Mr Miles told reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s not unusual for a virus like this to mutate into different strains.”
Crew testing is expected to take several hours and Mr Mitchell said if any cases were detected, they would deal with the ship “exactly as we have with dozens of others prior.”
Mr Mitchell said since the end of January, when Maritime Safety enforced strict COVID-19 protocols, at least 10,000 ships, or 60-80 ships a day, have entered Queensland waters.
“That’s around 200,000 seafarers, and we’ve had a number of positive cases among them,” he said.
“We bring them to shore and treat them as need be … These ships are essentially floating quarantines.
“We want to make sure Queensland is protected and we can continue the vital trade.”
Originally published as Container ship off Qld coast could be carrying a unknown strain of COVID-19 as border bubble set to expand