Martek Marine Launches New Tests to Stop COVID-19 Transmission at Crew Change

Preventing COVID-19 transmission into the workplace is now amongst the highest priorities for all company executives and it’s widely accepted that testing is key to the global exit strategy from the disease.

The EU & IMO recently issued new guidelines requiring all ships to implement pre-boarding screening of seafarers. To help operators their rigs from an outbreak of COVID-19, Martek Marine (Martek), part of James Fisher and Sons plc, has launched the CoronaSafeTM finger prick antibody screening test. From just a single drop of blood, CoronaSafeTM will detect IgM antibodies within 5-7 days of infection and is particularly useful to detect infections amongst subjects who show no symptoms and would otherwise embark undetected.

A study into the COVID-19 outbreak on the cruise ship Diamond Princess estimated that between 20.6% - 39.9% of cases were asymptomatic, whilst a recent study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that up to four fifths of cases are asymptomatic.

The CoronaSafeTM test is approved and certified by the European Union as meeting the safety, quality & performance requirements of Standard IVDD 98/79/EC - the highest standard applicable for these devices. It’s also in wide scale use by authorities/corporations in Japan, China, Germany, Poland, Indonesia and is formally certified by CFDA, Philippines FDA &  Singapore Health Sciences Authority.

Martek’s CEO Paul Luen commented:

“Screening crew before embarking is a critical step to prevent avoidable transmission from an asymptomatic  worker. It’s also an important diagnostic tool for re-screening if someone shows symptoms. The effect of an outbreak on a rig could be catastrophic in both business and human terms.”

Major corporations worldwide are rushing to adopt these occupational screening tests to help control the spread of this deadly virus, with demand rising rapidly as the crisis deepens. Martek, which has limited supply of the tests, are urging shipowners to act quickly to define their policy for crew screening, in order to maintain the health of their employees and ensure continuation of their shipping operations.

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