- Australian mining companies agree to no longer use Manila-based ship crew after the state confirmed an outbreak of COVID-19 on board the Vega Dream iron ore bulk carrier.
- The Vega Dream is the second ship that has arrived in northern WA with positive cases on board in recent months.
- One crew member who tested positive before others were tested was transferred to Hedland Hospital and is in a COVID-safe ward.
- Tests have been carried out, and of the ship’s remaining 19 crew members, six tested positive, Mr Cook revealed.
Mining companies ban ship crew from Manila as another ore carrier outbreak arrives in Pilbara, write Daile Cross and Hamish Hastie for the Brisbane Times.
Incubating illness to Australia unacceptable
WA Health Minister Roger Cook says a situation where bulk carrier crew members were bringing coronavirus infections on board a vessel and then incubating the illness on its way to Australia was unacceptable.
They are all on the vessel at anchor, 22 nautical miles off shore.
“We understand they’re in good spirits,” Mr Cook said.
“And there have been no reports of them being unwell. What I can stress is that there is no risk, I repeat no risk, to the Port Hedland community.”
Transmission risk
There had been concern in Port Hedland that a marine pilot and cargo surveyor who went on board the ship might have posed a transmission risk.
But Mr Cook said neither had been in close contact with any of the crew that have since tested positive and have no symptoms. They are self-isolating as a precaution.
“We do understand there is a level of anxiety in the community and for that reason we are isolating the pilot,” he said.
Positive crew isolated on board
The Vega Dream left the port about 5.30pm on Sunday, fully laden with iron ore. The positive crew members are isolating on board, in rooms with ensuites.
The ship is now outside WA jurisdiction, but Mr Cook said the state government continued to engage with what was happening on board and was working with the federal government, which will decide the next steps.
Another ore carrier
Another ore carrier, the Patricia Oldendorff, arrived at Port Hedland in September, bringing with it an outbreak that necessitated the evacuation of the crew to quarantine at the Hedland Hotel. WA’s Department of Health declared that ship’s outbreak “over” on Saturday, and it set sail for its next destination on Sunday.
About 30 per cent of the crews which sail to the Pilbara are based in Manila.
Plans to source crew from other countries
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Paul Everingham said its members had been talking to shipping agents about sourcing crews from other countries but it would take some time as new arrangements were made.
There was another case of COVID-19 recorded overnight; a man in his 50s who travelled to WA from Indonesia. He is in hotel quarantine.
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Source: Brisbane Times
