Maritime Union raises concerns about coronavirus risks at Port of Newcastle

The union was concerned that the federal government had not committed enough resources to deal with biosecurity risks at the port.

"We have serious concerns for our members because they're among the first people to come into contact with foreign seafarers coming into the port," Maritime Union of Australia Newcastle branch secretary Glen Williams said.

The federal Department of Agriculture has responsibility for biosecurity at the port.

"They are doing all they can with the resources they have, but I don't think they're geared up for something like this to be able to check every vessel to what we would see as a satisfactory level," Mr Williams said.

"They are severely under-resourced. The federal government has made commitments to further resource biosecurity, but nothing's been done in that area."

He'd been told that biosecurity officials wearing protective overalls and equipment did inspect a ship named China Progress at the port on Wednesday.

"Our guys were thinking, 'what's going on here?'," he said.

He said port workers had received advice from the department about having "disposable gloves, a P2 face mask and hand sanitiser".

The department has provided advice to anyone getting on board vessels in port to outline the additional personal protective equipment they may wish to consider using.

Union officials were concerned that vessels from mainland China may not be inspected by biosecurity officials until they'd been in port for a day.

"Our preference would be that these vessels are inspected before they come into port," Mr Williams said.

"A doctor or somebody could be flown out to assess the crew and clear the vessel to come in. The second option would be that before anybody goes on the vessel, biosecurity officials go aboard first and clear the vessel.

"You'd hate to think there'd be a chain of exposure to a range of people who were unaware [of people infected] and 24 hours later find out they need to be checked."

A number of people board each vessel that arrives in port, including quarantine and customs staff, vessel agents, providores and other service providers.

A Port of Newcastle statement said "biosecurity is managed by the Department of Agriculture, which has provided advice to all ports, including Port of Newcastle, regarding Australia's border response to the recent outbreak of coronavirus in China".

"Port of Newcastle remains vigilant and will adhere to department requirements and advice," the statement said.

The port was ensuring that any departmental advice it received was "shared with other port users to enable them to take informed precautions deemed appropriate to their operations".

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson said "all international vessels entering Australia are required to report information about biosecurity before they arrive".

"Pre-arrival reporting includes specific questions about the health of passengers and crew on board," the spokesperson said.

"If a vessel master reports that a person on board the vessel is ill, or has shown signs of illness in the past 14 days, the human biosecurity risk of the vessel will be assessed before arrival."

The department said it began issuing coronavirus information at midday on Wednesday to travellers from China on all commercial vessels arriving in Australia.

Mr Williams said there were concerns that foreign-owned "flag-of-convenience ships haven't got a history of declaring issues".

He said the system was relying on ship owners, companies and captains declaring people on board with flu-like symptoms.

He was concerned that the profit motive could be "a pretty big motivating factor for not reporting anything".

"If they declare it, then that vessel isn't coming into this port. They're not getting their cargo," he said.

"Our concern is flag-of-convenience ships that don't want to miss their cargo, so they'd just shove them [sick crew] in a cabin and no one sees them."

Mr Williams said the union did not want to be alarmist.

"We just want to make sure everything is being done to ensure that if there is somebody on board [who has symptoms] they're isolated and taken care of," he said.

He said the union wondered whether the Hunter Region was equipped to deal with any cases of coronavirus.

"If that happened, are we set up here in the local health system to deal with it?" he said.

"I know they are in Sydney and Brisbane."

Hunter New England Health said it had been asked to direct media inquiries to NSW Health.

A NSW Health spokesperson said there were "no confirmed cases in the Hunter New England region".

The spokesperson said there were "four confirmed cases of coronavirus in NSW".

All cases involved people who had travelled to Wuhan or had contact with a confirmed case in China.

A further six cases were under investigation. The risk of infection in NSW was "considered low".

NSW Health has been contacting and providing advice to passengers who were on the same planes as confirmed cases.

"Health workers in NSW public hospitals as well as community-based general practitioners have already been issued precautionary advice to help them identify any cases of the infection."

They had been advised to apply "careful infection control measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus".

"NSW Health will continue to update all relevant health professionals."

NSW Health is working with NSW Ambulance to safely transfer anyone under investigation for coronavirus, without risking transmission of infection to ambulance or other healthcare workers.

"Our hospitals are able to protect healthcare workers and other personnel, patients and visitors," a statement said.

Doctors and pathology laboratories were required by law to notify NSW Health of all people suspected of having the coronavirus.

"Should a person living in or visiting NSW be confirmed to have the infection, NSW Health has procedures in place to identify people who have been in contact with the confirmed case.

"Those people will be monitored and managed to prevent any further spread of the [coronavirus] infection, should they be found to also have the infection."

Most affected patients have had fever, cough and shortness of breath, along with evidence of pneumonia.

The incubation period [time between exposure and onset of symptoms] ranges from two to 14 days. Most of the early reported cases had contact with a seafood and live animal market, suggesting an animal source of the outbreak. However, most cases are now likely to be spread from person to person by droplets when coughing.