Vessel placed on lockdown at Durban port as 14 crew members test positive for Covid-19

TRANSNET National Ports Authority (TNPA) confirmed the chief engineer of the Eaubonne vessel, that berthed at the Durban port on Sunday, 2 May, died from a heart attack and 14 of the crew members have tested positive for Covid-19.

According to the TNPA, the vessel is currently under lockdown and a team has been assigned to go on board to monitor the crew members.

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“TNPA is responsible for ensuring that all vessels calling the port have been cleared by relevant state organs, namely Port Health, migration, MRCC and customs before entering or leaving the port,” it said.

The Minister of Health, Dr Zwelini Mkhize, noted the country’s teams remain on high alert to survey, detect and contain the spread of Covid-19 in general, with heightened awareness of travellers from countries where variants of concern (VOC) are dominating.

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.

Mkhize, said, “We confirm that the B.1.617 variant, circulating widely in India, has not been detected, however the genomics teams are working on some samples and we will need to allow the time it takes to sequence before we get an answer.

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“We wish to remind South Africans that the variant B.1.351 (or 501Y.V2) remains the most dominant in South Africa and indeed we have had confirmation that one of the samples taken from a traveller from India is the 501Y.V2.”

Mkhize noted the ship was bound for India and did not depart from India.

“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 travellers at ports of entry during these challenging times,” said Mkhize.

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