Positive test results from crew members on board the Sofrana Surville support the hypothesis that the port worker reported by the Ministry of Health on Sunday could have been infected while working on board.
The Sofrana Surville had travelled from Papua New Guinea to Solomon Islands to Brisbane to Tauranga to Auckland, where eight crew joined it from the Philippines on October 13.
The worker was on board the Sofrana Surville on October 12 and 13 conducting maintenance work, while wearing personal protective equipment.
The specific genome sequence of the virus he has contracted has not been seen in New Zealand before. The Sofrana Surville then travelled to Noumea and is now in Australia.