Number of Covid-19 positive foreign fishermen in Christchurch revised to 29

The Sudima Hotel is seen in Christchurch. Photo / NZH

The number of foreign fishermen who have tested positive for Covid-19 while in Christchurch is less than first thought.

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday 32 of the group, currently staying at the Sudima Christchurch Airport hotel, had tested positive but today that was revised to 29.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said officials hadn't changed their requirement for day 3 and day 12 testing - they added the day 6 testing in Christchurch because there was "intermingling" and it was an extra measure.

"They haven't decided how long that group will be staying in managed isolation and were waiting until the results of the day 12 tests before making that decision."

They haven't decided how long that group will be staying in managed isolation and were waiting until the results of the day 12 tests before making that decision, said Bloomfield.

They are among 440 fishers from Russia and the Ukraine, 270 of whom are due to go out on three Independent Fisheries boats next month.

It follows the discovery last Monday that eleven of the fishermen had returned positive results for Covid-19.

There is one new Covid-19 case in managed isolation today.

The new case, a young boy aged between 1-4, arrived in New Zealand from the UK.

There have been no new community cases for six days in a row and the cluster connected to the Sofrana Surville ship and a marine engineer who worked on it has so far been contained to three people.

Seven more cases have now recovered so the active cases are 68, Bloomfield said.