The PM is asked about the safety measures taken for the isolation of the 13 mariners taken off the Viking Bay who tested positive for Covid-19. Video / Mark Mitchell
Amid criticism for allowing international mariners infected with Covid-19 ashore, putting the country at risk, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand "has an obligation" to help those in distress.
However, she said she was asking more questions about obligations to help with re-crewing efforts for similar foreign-flagged vessels thathad no economic interest and were "against our environmental interests".
The 15 Covid-19 positive crew members from the Spanish-flagged Viking Bay deep-sea vessel, which included the two people who tested positive last week, are all in a quarantine facility in Wellington.
Five Covid-negative crew members are still aboard the vessel and would be subject to additional testing in the coming days.
Testing continues for the vessel, where reports of flu-like illnesses originated last week. It had applied for a change of crew while berthed at Port Taranaki.
University of Auckland professor Des Gorman told Newstalk ZB he was "very concerned" and said they should never have been allowed onshore in the first place.
The whole point of the quarantine system was to leave the virus offshore, with measures like pre-departure testing, he said.
"Here we have shifted the risk from offshore to onshore. Now we have 15 highly infectious people sitting in a building in Wellington. This is not how you do business."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended letting infected mariners ashore, saying MIQ facilities have handled infectious people before. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He said it was "very likely" they had the highly infectious Delta variant and said they should be confined to their hotel rooms to prevent any outbreak.
Ardern said the crew aboard the Viking Bay fishing ship should not have been kept at sea.
New Zealand had an obligation to those who "may be in distress or need medical assistance" within the country's geographical boundaries, she said.
"We do have to provide facilities and care. That is part of being a member of the international community."
There was another obligation, particularly to cargo ships, to allow them to re-crew, otherwise there was a risk of not being able to keep supply chains open.
The mariners are at the Grand Mercure in Wellington, which has opened up a second floor to isolate them. The five-star hotel is a dual-use managed isolation facility that houses both infected and non-infected returnees.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she is asking what more can be done to assist Fiji, which is grappling with a "devastating" Covid-19 outbreak. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Ardern said the Government had done all it could to ensure there would be no transfer of the virus.
Despite the Grand Mercure not being a dedicated quarantine facility, Ardern said it did adhere to the same standards.
"We do everything we can around infection control. We have had Covid cases in Wellington facilities before, we maintain the same infection controls in any facility where people might have Covid regardless if someone has tested positive."
The Spanish-flagged vessel hasn't been fishing in New Zealand waters and was not operating on behalf of a New Zealand fishing venture, MPI says.
Ardern said while there were obligations around vessels linked to New Zealand's supply chains, where they were not she had been asking further questions.
"One question I have been asking is, do we have an obligation to re-crew foreign-flagged fishing vessels who are fishing a fishery with no economic interest to New Zealand and are against our environmental interests? I have asked that question, but that is very different to the obligation we have of when people fall ill when in our waters."
On the escalating situation in Fiji, where there are now more than 9000 active cases in isolation and 56 deaths linked to the current outbreak that started in April, Ardern said it was "devastating".
She has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to contact officials there again and offer specific medical equipment that may be needed.
On issues with MIQ slots, Ardern said while demand was high it would inevitably drop over time. The Government was also constantly looking at ways to stop any "gaming" of the bookings system.
