Third test possible for some

The Government is looking at introducing a third Covid-19 test or increasing managed isolation for at-risk people.

The move comes after a man tested positive more than a week after leaving managed isolation in Christchurch.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday the man could have contracted Covid during his managed isolation and authorities were reviewing the facility’s surveillance footage.

He said the man remained alert to his health, sought advice as soon as he developed symptoms on September 16 and self-isolated with his family before they were moved to an Auckland quarantine facility.

He was confirmed positive on Saturday and on Sunday two household contacts were confirmed as having the virus.

Three of the man’s neighbours had returned a negative test and were in selfisolation. The man arrived from India on August 27. He completed managed isolation in Christchurch, with two negative tests. He returned home to Auckland on a government-chartered flight on September 11 with 86 passengers who had also completed their managed isolation in Christchurch. All passengers were being contacted and assessed.

Bloomfield said the man could have contracted the virus in India. A long incubation period was ‘‘rare but can happen’’. He could have been infected on the flight to New Zealand. Eight other cases were confirmed from that flight. Genome sequencing for the man’s case was consistent with two cases from the flight.

The Ministry of Health was seeking further advice about long incubation periods and looking at whether introducing a third Covid test or increasing managed isolation for people who had been on the same return flight as confirmed cases was necessary, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.