Link to vineyard confirmed

A Marlborough vineyard notified authorities late last month of a link to an overseas case of coronavirus, the health board has confirmed.

Last Monday Nelson Marlborough Health (NMH) revealed there had been a positive case of coronavirus linked to a vineyard in the Nelson Marlborough region, which they later revealed had been recorded once the patient was overseas. They believed the infection was contracted in transit.

On Friday NMH Clinical Director of Public Health Dr Simon Bridgman confirmed it had been a Marlborough vineyard, and they notified him of the link on April 27.

Forty staff at the Marlborough vineyard were among a ‘‘targeted group’’ to be tested for coronavirus in the week beginning May 4.

Also included in the new asymptomatic testing programme would be 100 returning international travellers, 230 essential workers and 100 workers from Stoke New World, where an employee tested positive last week.

There have been no positive cases in Marlborough since before April 9, but Nelson recorded one positive case last Thursday, a woman in her 30s who worked at New World Stoke.

On Friday two new cases were recorded across New Zealand, with a record number of 7812 tests conducted on Thursday.

While there was no wine industry directive on how to proceed in the event of a coronavirus case, New Zealand Winegrowers were confident there had been ‘‘a high level of compliance’’ in safety precautions.

Under alert level 4 lockdown, the Ministry for Primary industries (MPI) undertook checks of ‘‘thousands of establishments’’ across New Zealand including ‘‘numerous’’ vineyards in the Nelson Marlborough region.

MPI Verification services director Alan Cook said no vineyards had been closed during this period, meaning they were satisfied with the adherence to restrictions.

New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said they had no prior knowledge of the link to the positive case.

‘‘We wouldn’t have had a role in that, that would have been up to the health authorities,’’ he said.

‘‘We developed guidance for the industry based on information provided to us through the various arms of government, and translated that into practical advice for the industry about how it would operate.’’

He said the wine industry had been ‘‘very privileged’’ to have essential service status under lockdown, and was confident they had complied with the safety directives from the Ministry of Health.