Master of ship lied about the Covid-19 status of his crew as they entered South African waters

Mkhize says in a statement that the master of the ship made a false declaration in Gqeberha.

It later emerged that 10 members of the crew tested positive for coronavirus last weekend onboard the ship from Kenya. 

“Port Health, together with Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA), instructed the shipping agency to proceed with contact tracing and testing processes, with 20 crew members on board subjected to PCR tests. 

"A further ten crew members have been detected with COVID19 and are isolating for 10 days at designated facilities. The other 10 members that tested negative will remain in quarantine on the ship,” reads the statement by Mkhize.

As far as the Master of the ship, Mkhize says consequence management procedures will be followed.

“It is deeply unfortunate that the master of the vessel is found to have made a false declaration regarding the health status of the vessel and crew. SAPS has activated consequence management procedures and engaged the state prosecutor,” says Mkhize.

READ: Mkhize confirms testing of India Covid variant, cases at SA ports treated as matter of urgency

Mkhize says Eastern Cape officials will monitor the crew in isolation.

“The officials of the Nelson Mandela Bay Health District will be responsible for monitoring the crew who are in isolation and to also complete the containment measures. 

"The vessel has been similarly secured in port to ensure that there is no unauthorised access to and from the vessel,We wish to put on record this ship was bound for India (and it had not departed from India),” he said.

Mkhize adds that the increase in cases at ports of entry is concerning.

“This increase in detection of cases at the ports of entry is of deep concern to us as government and we have been attending to this as a matter of urgency. 

"We have consulted the Ministerial Advisory Committee as well as the genomics team to guide us on the management of travelers at ports of entry during these challenging times. 

READ: Identities of Durban helicopter crash victims released

"The government will be determining the next steps to follow and announcements will be made on the state of variants of concern in our context and what measures will be implemented to mitigate against the importation of COVID-19 in general,” adds Mkhize.

Mkhize has again assured South Africans that the B.1.617 variant, circulating widely in India, has not been detected in the country and the genomics teams are working on some samples.

 “We will need to allow the time it takes to sequence before we get an answer,” he said.