Fourteen crew members of a cargo ship that sailed to Durban from India have tested positive for Covid-19, South Africa's Transnet National Port Authority has said. A spokesperson from Transnet said the cause of a chief engineer's death aboard the ship was heart attack and not Covid-19. The 14 were among the entire crew that was tested after the ship arrived in Durban on Sunday. They are now all in isolation as authorities start a track and trace initiative for all those who might have been in contact with them.

"The vessel is currently on quarantine. No one is allowed to leave or enter the vessel, and the company responsible for anyone who worked on board is to track and trace all employees who interacted with the subject vessel,' Transnet said on Tuesday. A senior port official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told a news portal that at least 200 port employees had been working on the vessel since Sunday evening, manually offloading about 3,000 tonnes of rice.