Ministry defends air crew rules

The Health Ministry has defended allowing Air New Zealand flight attendants to crew trans-tasman and domestic flights without being tested for Covid-19 in between, saying Australia is ‘‘low risk’’.

However, Otago University epidemiologist Michael Baker has questioned whether the rules should be tighter.

‘‘The basic standard is no-one should be coming into New Zealand who hasn’t undergone 14 days of quarantine,’’ Baker said.

‘‘If any groups want to deviate from that they should have to make a very convincing case that what they are doing is equivalent.’’

An Air New Zealand crew member warned on Friday that flight attendants could crew transTasman flights and then be assigned to domestic flights two days later, without having gone through any self-isolation or testing.

They also feared there was a temptation for air crew to breach self-isolating rules during stopovers in the United States, saying there was no room service at the Ayres Hotel in Los Angeles that Air NZ is understood to use for layovers and its restaurant is currently closed.

Covid guidelines issued by the Health Ministry require that hotels used by airlines for international layovers of air crew provide ‘‘in-room meals including breakfast, lunch and dinner’’.

A receptionist at the hotel said on Friday when contacted by Stuff that it did not have any food at the hotel and the options included ‘‘restaurants across the street’’ or having food delivered.

Crew flying to and from the United States are required to undergo 48 hours’ self-isolation and to take a Covid-19 test on their return.

Baker said that ‘‘on the face of it, that doesn’t sound sufficient’’.

A Health Ministry spokeswoman defended the absence of any self-isolation rules for air crew travelling to and from Australia.

‘‘Currently the only international flights where there would be any potential crossover with air crew with scheduled domestic flights in New Zealand would be Air New Zealand flights to low risk countries such as Australia and the Pacific,’’ she said.

‘‘The majority of flight crew on Australia and Pacific flights remain airside and do not stay overnight before returning to New Zealand.’’

The spokeswoman said strict measures were in place for air crew, including the appropriate use of PPE. Its rules would be reviewed next month, she said.

‘‘New Zealand’s approach is supported by research showing the risk of in-flight transmission is low.’’

But Baker said the evidence about the transmission-risk of Covid-19 on aircraft was unclear.