Worker infected on trip home?

An overseas vineyard worker who tested positive for coronavirus after leaving New Zealand likely caught the virus while travelling home, health authorities say.

Nelson Marlborough Health revealed on Monday a confirmed case of coronavirus had links to a vineyard in the region.

It has refused to say if the vineyard was in Marlborough or Nelson, or when the positive result came back.

Clinical director of public health Dr Stephen Bridgman said once the overseas case was confirmed, contact tracing was undertaken in New Zealand and close contacts were put into isolation and monitored for symptoms.

The Public Health Service was advised of the case by the vineyard, and ‘‘we commend this proactivity’’, Bridgman said.

‘‘The case was confirmed in a person in another country, who had been in New Zealand for a period of time,’’ he said.

‘‘It is highly likely that case was contracted once the person had left New Zealand and started travel.’’

Nelson Marlborough Health confirmed yesterday the vineyard worker had never been included in New Zealand’s total case count.

About 40 workers at the vineyard would be tested for coronavirus this week as part of a programme of surveillance testing of people without symptoms.

Nelson Marlborough Health on Monday started surveillance testing of groups identified as ‘‘higher risk’’, at the request of the Ministry of Health.

They included staff at the vineyard, international travellers returning to the region, essential workers who had been in direct contact with a case and employees at the New World Stoke supermarket where a worker was confirmed as a positive case last week.

Wine Marlborough manager Marcus Pickens said he did not know about the positive case with links to a vineyard in the top of the south.

There was no obligation for a vineyard or winery to inform Wine Marlborough if a positive case was recorded, he said.

‘‘That’s a private matter, but obviously we would always be there to support any situation like that,’’ he said.

He was ‘‘confident’’ Marlborough vineyards and wineries had followed strict protocols throughout harvest.

Wine Marlborough did not issue guidelines on what to do if there was a suspected or positive case, but rather directed wineries towards Ministry of Health guidelines.

There were no new cases of coronavirus in Nelson Marlborough yesterday.