New Zealand / Covid 19

Testing at a Hawke's Bay holiday park after positive result

15:23 pm on 27 April 2020

Residents at a Hawke's Bay holiday park are all being tested for Covid-19 after one of them tested positive for the virus.

Photo: RNZ /Dom Thomas

The man did not have any symptoms, but was tested because he was a health care worker at Gladys Mary Care Home in Napier, which is linked to the Ruby Princess cluster of 22 people.

Several dementia patients at the home became infected after a relative of one of the residents contracted the virus from infected passengers when it docked in Napier on March 15.

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board said the man had been sharing some facilities with others at the holiday park, so Public Health was now testing everyone who had also been living there.

  • If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP

More testing at the rest home would also be carried out.

The man had since moved to other accommodation where he would remain in isolation for two weeks.

Hawke's Bay Medical Officer of Health Dr Nick Jones said he was confident the risk to anyone else at the holiday park was very low but to ensure, in the unlikely instance, there were other cases the decision had been made to test everyone living there.

Public Health was working closely with the holiday park's management to ensure everyone living there was informed today.

We are pleased surveillance testing is doing what it should, which has meant we have been able to identify a Covid-19 case, which may have otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Dr Jones said this case highlighted how important it was for anyone with symptoms, no matter how mild; such as a runny nose or sore throat, to call either their GP or Healthline so they can be assessed for referral to a Community-based Assessment Centre (CBAC) for testing.

Symptoms of Covid-19 include cold or flu-like illness with one or more of the following: a fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell.

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