Crew aboard vessel from India test positive for Covid-19 in Durban

TRANSNET has put a vessel from India under lockdown after 14 people aboard tested positive for Covid-19 at the Durban Port.

In a statement, the state-owned entity said the chief engineer of the Eaubonne vessel birthed at the Port of Durban on Sunday, and died of a heart attack.

“The Filipino crewed vessel was a 17-day direct sail from India to the Port of Durban and, as a requirement for the next port of call, all crew members from the vessel were tested for Covid-19 and cleared. Upon arrival at the Port of Durban, as a standard precautionary measure, all crew members were tested and 14 of the crew tested positive for Covid-19. The entire vessel is currently in quarantine at the Port of Durban, as per Covid-19 regulations,” Transnet said.

As part of Covid-19 protocol, the crew’s contact tracking and tracing is being undertaken.

The Health Department has been on high alert, following a positive Covid19 case from a traveller, who recently arrived in SA from India.

Earlier, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said healthcare agencies were on high alert and the variant first identified in India had not been found in South Africa.

He said the Ministerial Advisory Committee had been asked to advise the department on the management of travellers from countries whose rising coronavirus cases were being driven by variants.

“Their advice will assist us to determine the next steps forward of which the government will announce in due cause.

“For now, we ask for calm to prevail,” Mkhize said.

Health expert Dr Aslam Dasoo, from the Progressive Health Forum, has echoed similar sentiments, saying calls for travel from India to be banned were premature.

“The knee-jerk reaction of fear is not called for at this point. People should calm down – the minister is correct,” Dasoo said.

He explained that banning flights or travel from India would be difficult in South Africa as the country had quite loose borders, another issue was that it has yet to be determined whether the variant first identified in India was driving a rise in cases in that country.

At the moment, the World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled the B.1.617 variant as a category of interest and further investigations have to be made to determine how infectious it is.

“It is impractical to try and ban flights. We have weak borders; people who might have been to India can enter from various border posts.

“To the extent that we have screening capabilities, we should deploy those. On a broader level, the variant first identified in India has been designated by the WHO as a variant of interest.

“The variants found in South Africa and the UK are variants of concern. There is a distinction.

“Variants of concern have been shown to increase transmission and infection in some cases. But variants of interest are still under investigation,” he explained.

Dasoo said the rise in cases in India was a matter of concern and a reminder that the pandemic remained a concern.

The WHO said last week the world had recently seen as many coronavirus cases reported than it had in the first five months of the pandemic last year.

UCT organic chemistry Professor Kelly Chibale said the second wave outbreak in India was a reminder not to let one’s guard down.