COVID NSW: Sydney wharfies potentially infected on-board Inge Kosan ship

A group of Sydney wharfies may have been unknowingly spreading COVID for three weeks after boarding a vessel from PNG.

Health authorities are sweating on the results of four COVID tests after Sydney wharfies boarded a ship which has since been found to be riddled with coronavirus.

If any one of these wharfies from Port of Botany has contracted the virus they could have been spreading it for three weeks.

NSW Health learnt on Thursday that the body of a crew member from the Inge Kosan was found on a beach in Vanuatu and tested positive for COVID.

LPG carrier Inge Kosan has been detained in Vanuatu after a body of a crew member was reportedly found on a beach near Port Vila and later tested positive for COVID-19.

Twelve of Inge Kosan’s 13 crew members have tested positive for COVID-19, including one who died.

The ship had travelled from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and docked at Port Botany in Sydney for 24 hours from March 31 to April 1 before heading to Vanuatu.

“Health authorities in Vanuatu have confirmed that 12 out of 13 crew members from the ship, including the deceased crew member, tested positive for COVID following testing in Port Vila,” a statement by NSW Health read.

“Fifteen workers at Port Botany are confirmed to have boarded the ship to conduct routine port activities before disembarking.

“No crew members disembarked the ship during its time in Sydney.”

NSW Health on Friday confirmed 11 of the 15 wharfies have now returned negative tests and the remaining results will be available today. All of the workers used personal protective equipment when they boarded the ship.

It comes as Papua New Guinea reached more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.

So far there has been 91 reported deaths of COVID in PNG.