Covid 19 coronavirus: No proof virus known aboard Ruby Princess before Napier arrival

Cruise liners berthed at Napier up to three at a time at the height of the seasons which came to a sudden stop with the onset of the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020. Photo / NZME

A Customs Service inquiry has found no proof there was knowledge of the Covid-19 virus aboard cruise liner the Ruby Princess before its Napier stop and the start of a coronavirus cluster in Hawke's Bay last year.

A complement of more than 3800 passengers and crew were aboard the liner when it berthed in Napier on March 15, 2020, ultimately its last New Zealand stop before being turned back to Sydney, from where it had set sail on March 9, and to where it returned 11 days later

Of the 44 cases of Covid-19 in Hawke's Bay before the area was deemed free of the virus 10 weeks later, 25 were part of what the Ministry of Health called the "Ruby Princess Cruise Ship Cluster" - bringing an early end to the tourism-boosting seasons which at peak had up to three ships in port at the same time.

A report focuses on shipping procedures and requirements in the voyage to New Zealand and its visits, in order to Milford Sound, first port-call Port Chalmers, Akaroa, Wellington and Napier, from where it was, according to the report, "abruptly recalled" shortly before the scheduled time for departure.

Six people aboard had been reported as unwell prior to arrival in New Zealand waters, which was not considered unusual for a ship the size of the Ruby Princess.

The first five tests for Covid-19 were done on March 14 in Wellington, at the request of the Hawke's Bay District Health Board "to rule out Covid-19 among some passengers who were believed to have Influenza A".

More testing was done on the vessel, but there were no positive results, until after one person presented unwell en route from Napier to Sydney, recording having developed influenza symptoms on March 11, about the time of the arrival in Milford Sound.

Reports have said it would possibly never be known how the virus developed on the liner, but have noted a contracted entertainer had travelled from north Italy to join the vessel in Port Chalmers on March 4, towards the end of its previous voyage, but who disembarked in Sydney on March 8 and ultimately flew back to the Northern Hemisphere without undertaking the new voyage assignment.

The report does, however, identify failings in some procedures which could have led to prosecution of the shipping company or the master and crew, but decided it would not be in the public interest.

Separate investigations surround berthing and disembarkation in Sydney after the Ruby Princess left New Zealand, with ultimately 28 deaths and more than 700 infections attributed to an outbreak of Covid-19.