Another eight crew members from a bulk carrier anchored off Western Australia's north coast have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of cases from the ship to 17.
Key points:
- There are now 10 infected crew members from the ship in hotel quarantine
- WA today recorded more new cases than in Victoria, where there was five
- Port Hedland locals say the outbreak has left them "worried and anxious"
The eight new cases are part of the crew who were transferred off the Patricia Oldendorff into hotel quarantine in Port Hedland on Friday.
It means WA today recorded more new cases of the virus than Victoria, which had five new cases overnight.
Seven of the infected crew members remain on board the vessel, which arrived from Manila last week and is anchored about nine nautical miles from the Pilbara town, while there are now 10 in hotel quarantine.
The remaining four crew members — two on the ship and two in hotel quarantine — have so far tested negative to the virus.
WA Medical Assistance Team (WAMAT) mission leader Tudor Codreanu said the result was not unexpected, and the measures already implemented were "entirely satisfactory".
"These results do not affect in any way the safety of the larger community, nor of the maritime personnel," he said.
"Therefore for us it is, as I said, not unexpected and we continue doing what we have been doing for the last four days."
Serological testing results of two crew members still on the ship are due later today and will reveal if they previously had the virus.
"If the serology test is positive, it is actually reassuring for us that we have able seamen there that can maintain the safety and security of the vessel," Dr Codreanu said.
Crew members 'in good spirits'
In a statement, WA Health said all crew members were "in good spirits and have been able to contact family at home".
"Crew also have been provided access to culturally appropriate food by a Filipino chef," it said.
WA Health and the WA Country Health Service (WACHS) have again sought to reassure the Port Hedland community, saying "every safety measure is being put in place to protect the local community".
"The safety of the maritime workers, emergency services and transport staff, hotel staff and the local community continues to be our number one priority," their statement said.
Health Minister Roger Cook has previously said a new international crew currently undergoing quarantine in Perth could be brought up to operate the ship.
He said the seven COVID-19 positive crew members on board had either no or mild symptoms.
Daily cleaning is now being carried out on the ship, where separation zones have been established and no other work is being conducted apart from essential operations.
Dr Codreanu said there was not currently a qualified nine-member replacement crew available in WA for the ship, but that the company had three extra people in Port Hedland and two in Perth.
Health officials are in individual contact with each of the nine crew members still on the ship.
Dr Codreanu said WA authorities now knew much more about the virus and were in a much better position than they were a few months back, when there were outbreaks aboard the Artania cruise ship and the Al Kuwait live export carrier.
Residents 'worried and anxious'
But residents in Port Hedland are growing concerned about the developing situation.
Port Hedland Ratepayers Association president Arnold Carter described it as "amazing, shocking and disastrous".
Mr Carter questioned why a quarantine facility had not been established in preparation for an outbreak on a ship.
"With the amount of money that goes out of Port Hedland with the iron ore industry … there is not a facility for emergencies such as this in the Pilbara," he said.
"We have a detention centre up there at Cooke Point absolutely empty."
He said residents were "concerned, worried and anxious" to see what would happen.
"Let's hope they don't have a repetition of what happened in Melbourne," Mr Carter said.
The mining company which had chartered the Patricia Oldendorff said there would be no impact on its operations.
Consolidated Minerals has chartered a new vessel to pick up its Manganese shipment.
The new charter vessel is due to arrive to pick up the minerals in early October.
ADF to aid Port Hedland quarantine
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) will help enforce the quarantine operation in Port Hedland.
The ADF said it had received a request for help from the WA Government and expected to provide 10 soldiers for the job from Thursday.
There are already 192 members of the ADF in WA as part of Operation COVID-19 Assist, with 121 of those involved in quarantine compliance at hotels and at Perth Airport.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) WA president Andrew Miller said it was disturbing there were COVID-positive people as part of the essential crew still on the Patricia Oldendorff.
"What happens if one of them gets really sick? We have handled COVID on ships before but never outside of the Perth metropolitan area," he said.
"More and more and more of the ships that turn up in Western Australia are going to have COVID on them, and so we now need to fully understand how we are going to handle it when it happens in these regional areas that are very vulnerable.
"I've spoken to some of the doctors on the ground there … they're not confident that the health resource up there is up to scratch at this stage to deal with critically ill COVID cases."
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2020-09-28 07:12:00Z
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