Covid outbreak at remote Antarctic research station

If you’ve got the most mild of symptoms please just stay home and connect on social media.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant

Polar researchers in Antarctica have contracted coronavirus despite being fully vaccinated and living miles from civilisation.

Two thirds of the 25 staff based at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught the virus, Le Soir newspaper reported.

The outbreak took hold despite all staff passing multiple PCR tests, quarantining and living in one of the most remote places in the world.

The situation has echoes of the plot of John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing, which was advertised on posters with the warning “man is the warmest place to hide”. An alien life form infects workers on an Antarctic station in the cult sci-fi thriller starring Kurt Russell.

None of the infected Belgians have exhibited any severe symptoms.

All 25 researchers were fully vaccinated and one had a booster shot. Before leaving for the station, they had PCR tests in Belgium two hours before flying to South Africa. In Cape Town they quarantined for 10 days and took another PCR test. A further test was needed when leaving for Antarctica and a final one five days after that.

One person tested positive seven days after arriving at the station on December 14 and was placed in isolation but tests revealed two others had caught the virus. All three left the station on December 23 but the virus has continued to spread.

It is thought to be the Omicron variant, responsible for 99 per cent of infections in South Africa.

There are two emergency doctors at the station, which will not allow any new arrivals until the virus dissipates.

Belgium’s Polar Secretariat has now shortened the research season.

Meanwhile, in Australia case numbers surged to record levels in NSW and Victoria yesterday.

NSW almost doubled its case numbers on the last day of the year, with

21,151 confirmed cases of the virus and six new deaths.

There were 832 people in hospital with the virus, up from 746 on Thursday. At the same time, six more people had been admitted to intensive care taking the total to 69 — 39 of whom are unvaccinated.

Victoria also broke its record for daily cases with 5919 new infections and seven deaths.

There were 428 infected people in hospital across Victoria — up from 395 on the previous day.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant was urging residents to stay home over the new year and connect with family and friends over social media following the state’s spike in new cases.

“The situation in NSW reflects the international experience with Omicron, where we are seeing a rapid doubling rate but we are protected with high vaccination coverage,” she said yesterday.

“It stresses me when I review the ICU admissions and see the amount of people who aren’t vaccinated.

“If you’ve got the most mild of symptoms please just stay home and connect on social media.

“Just don’t go out.”

In NSW, 95 per cent of people aged

16 and over have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 93.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

More than 93 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated.