A patient at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland has tested positive for Covid-19.
Photo: LDR / Stephen Forbes
The person arrived at the emergency department on Friday for a non-Covid-19 related issue and were assessed and admitted, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
They were asymptomatic and answered no to Covid screening questions at the time of arriving.
On Sunday 10 October they developed a cough and were tested. The result came back positive today.
The patient was immediately moved to an isolation ward.
As of this evening, the ministry says out of an abundance of caution 40 patients have been identified as contacts and of these, 15 are inpatients while the remaining 25 are being followed-up by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service.
In addition, 34 staff have also been identified as contacts and of these, 21 staff have been stood down with testing plans.
The ministry says exposure events at the hospital are not unexpected as there are a number of subclusters in the South Auckland area, where the hospital is located.
It says to date none of the exposure events at the hospital have resulted transmission to other patients or to staff.