Scramble to test travellers for coronavirus after ‘lapse’

About 600 Covid-19 tests were carried out yesterday on travellers in managed isolation as part of the scramble to catch up with rules that should have been enforced well over a week ago.

On the first day of alert level 1 last week, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced the extra step that people in managed isolation would be tested for the virus on around days three and 12.

But the case of two women who were permitted to leave managed isolation on compassionate grounds to travel to Wellington on June 13, without being tested first, has revealed people were not being tested when they should have been.

Other travellers in managed isolation or who have recently left have also confirmed they haven’t been tested once, let alone twice.

Bridget Tyson said she arrived in the country from Japan on the night of June 13. She claimed she was originally told she wouldn’t be swabbed for Covid-19, which she felt was odd.

“Then we got told the next day that we would have one at 12 days, then the next day we got told ‘no you’re going to have one at three days and at 12 days’, but that was the third day and the testing people didn’t come and they re-scheduled it for today.”

Tyson said she understood there were people in the same hotel as her with just three days left of isolation.

“So there’s more pressure to [test those people so they can leave].”

Bloomfield yesterday acknowledged there has been a “lapse in the process” for introducing the routine day three and 12 testing over the latter part of last week.