Worker’s 160 Covid tests

At least four Kiwis have been tested for Covid-19 more than 100 times, with the top spot held by a Jet Park quarantine facility staffer who has been tested a whopping 160 times.

All of New Zealand’s top 20 mosttested individuals are healthcare workers at the Auckland quarantine facility, revealed in data released to the Herald under the Official Information Act. The staffer at the top of the leaderboard has undergone a total of 160 tests as of September 9 — comprising 102 nasopharyngeal tests and 58 saliva tests.

The staffer in second place has endured 145 nasopharyngeal tests in their total of 153 tests.

The two remaining employees to crack triple figures have done 127 and 108 tests respectively.

Mandatory Covid testing of border workers was introduced on August 14 last year, with tests administered on a weekly or fortnightly schedule.

Saliva tests, which only became available to all border workers from August 11 this year, are performed twice a week.

Also under the Official Information Act, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment revealed the most frequent visitor to MIQ has endured 14 periods of taxing isolation.

As of June 30, one person has stayed in MIQ 14 times, one has stayed 13 times, three people have stayed 11 times and three others have stayed 10 times. All of these people are aircrew.

For the general public, data up to August 13 showed two individuals had been through MIQ five times, 49 had been through four times and 332 had been three times.