Thousands wait on recent test results

AUCKLAND: Thousands of people are anxiously awaiting results after spending hours in queues at northern Covid19 testing stations and medical clinics yesterday.

Once those results start to come in, authorities will get a clearer idea of whether New Zealand is on the brink of a new community outbreak following a confirmed case that was contracted in managed isolation — or whether we are likely to have a lucky escape that is easily contained.

While there has been no indication a lockdown here is likely, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt last night took a cautious approach, suspending the country’s oneway travel bubble with New Zealand for at least 72 hours, with immediate effect.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had informed her about the move in advance.

‘‘I was advised late [on Monday] afternoon of Australia’s decision by the Prime Minister.

‘‘I advised him that we have confidence in our systems and processes, but it is Australia’s decision as to how they manage their borders.’’

The new case of Covid19 is a 56yearold woman, who tested positive after spending two weeks in quarantine at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland.

Covid19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the case was the South African variant, called B.1.3.5.1, which is believed to be more infectious than the original strain of coronavirus.

He said it was ‘‘highly likely’’ the woman had contracted the virus from a fellow returnee during her stay in managed isolation between January 9 and 13.

Travellers who stayed there between January 9 and 24 are being asked to selfisolate ‘‘immediately’’.

People who may have been in contact with the woman and are experiencing symptoms are being asked to get tested.

The request resulted in huge queues at testing stations in Northland yesterday, some residents waiting up to threeandahalf hours to get a test.

There were also queues outside Auckland medical clinics.

Calls to Healthline’s dedicated Covid19 hotline have also more than quadrupled, with close to 1000 people phoning for advice on Sunday. As a result, the average waiting time skyrocketed from just over a minute last month to 38 minutes.

Directorgeneral of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB yesterday an investigation was under way to deter

mine how the woman was infected.

He said health officials ‘‘are not leaving any rock unturned’’.

While he was not sure if it was the case at the Pullman, he said some managed isolation facilities put occupants in vans to transport them to the location where they could complete their physical activity.

‘‘That would be of course one of the places we would be looking.’’

He said the investigation would review what mix of people were put into those vans.

Before developing symptoms and testing positive, the woman, who lives just south of Whanga

rei, travelled to a number of places around southern Northland.

Her frequent use of the Covid19 scanning app has been praised by health officials.

Contact tracing identified 15 people as close contacts of the woman; 13 of them worked in two retail settings, and it was not immediately clear who served the woman.

Air New Zealand has beefed up its rules on all international flights, requiring all passengers to wear masks. All travellers on domestic flights in New Zealand already have to wear masks due to New Zealand Covid rules. — The New Zealand Herald