Alliance southern staff to be tested

ALLIANCE Group employees in Southland and Otago will be tested for Covid19 as part of continued voluntary surveillance testing of asymptomatic people in the community.

It follows testing in recent weeks of 343 people at a Queenstown supermarket, targeted testing of 243 people at Queenstown hostel accommodation, and 37 people at Kati Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki marae.

All of the results so far have been negative.

Yesterday marked 12 successive days of no new positive cases in the Southern District Health Board area.

Nationally, there were three new cases, — the 12th successive day of singledigit case numbers.

There were no further deaths yesterday.

Eightyfour percent of cases had recovered, directorgeneral of health Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday.

SDHB medical officer of health Susan Jack said widespread testing of asymptomatic people provided vital information for board and Ministry of Health planning.

‘‘We are very grateful to Alliance Group for assisting with this, as they represent a large group of essential workers, as well as a culturally diverse workforce.

‘‘Indeed, the support from all groups being tested, as well as the outstanding team of testers at WellSouth and from our general practices who are undertaking this important work around the district, is greatly appreciated.’’

She said the negative results being reported suggested the Level 4 lockdown had helped the South avoid widespread community transmission.

Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor said ‘‘keeping our people safe is paramount’’.

‘‘We have introduced unprecedented precautions in our plants to prevent the spread of Covid19 . . . and we are proud of the way our people have stepped up in these tough times in the best interests of the country.’’

The testing will take place at Alliance’s Lorneville plant near Invercargill tomorrow and at the Pukeuri plant outside Oamaru next week.