Six more crew from Darya Krishna cargo ship test positive for Covid-19

More crew members from a virus-plagued ship have tested positive for coronavirus but authorities are hoping to keep them on-board the vessel.

Six more crew members from a cargo ship docked in Perth have tested positive for Covid-19.

Three people who were taken off the bulk carrier Darya Krishna on Monday remain at Fiona Stanley Hospital, including one who is in the intensive care unit.

“One MV Darya Krishna crew member remains in ICU in a serious but stable condition and the other two crew members are in a stable condition on a respiratory ward,” the WA Health Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The six new cases will be officially recorded in Thursday’s figures.

The ship remains docked in Fremantle.

It was revealed on Tuesday that two unvaccinated healthcare workers – a technician and a cadet nurse – were forced to go into hotel quarantine after potentially being exposed to the virus at the hospital during the transfer of the three sick crew.

Health Minister Roger Cook said he was angry and disappointed to learn there had been a breach of Covid-19 protocols due to a mechanical fault in the service lift.

The lift was supposed to go to the helipad level to be aired out for 30 minutes, then cleaned before being used again, but due to the technical error the lift went down to another floor and a worker unwittingly entered.

A spotter noticed the mistake but then it happened again with another staff member.

Three crew remain at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Mr Cook said his preference was that any additional cases be managed on-board the vessel unless they needed medical help.

The vessel has crew who are mostly from India and the Philippines.

The ship left Singapore on July 18 but had previously docked in Indonesia on July 8.

Premier Mark McGowan has been pushing for the Commonwealth to tighten protocols regarding ships coming from Indonesia, as was done previously with the Philippines.

Western Australia now has 10 active cases, including one in hotel quarantine, three in hospital linked to the Darya Krishna and six on-board the BBC California.

On Tuesday, WA had a record number of vaccinations with 15,508 people being administered a dose – 10,008 of them were second jabs.

Originally published as Six more crew from Darya Krishna cargo ship test positive for Covid-19