Dr Ashley Bloomfield apologised today for a breakdown in New Zealand's isolation protocol that saw two women test positive for Covid-19 after being released early.
But the Director-General of Health also insisted while on TVNZ1's Breakfast today that he does not believe there “is any risk there at all to the community”.
On June 12, the women were granted compassionate leave from their managed isolation at an Auckland hotel. They then travelled to Wellington without taking a Covid-19 test.
While it was initially believed the pair did not have contact with anyone, officials revealed last night that they had contact with friends.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said it is an “unacceptable failure” of the system and has brought in the military to oversee isolation and quarantine.
Two women travelled from Auckland to Wellington, before testing positive for Covid-19. (Source: Other)
Dr Bloomfield added today that testing “should have happened”.
“We’ve set a really high standard for keeping New Zealanders safe throughout this pandemic - it’s a major challenge and major risk - and we’re deeply committed to continuing to keep people safe.
“In this case, the testing should have happened before they left.”
The Government has had the quarantine and managed isolation facilities in place for several months, from which more than 19,000 people have come through, he said. However, additional testing was only introduced last week.
Officials earlier had said they travellers from the UK had contact with only one family member after they were released from isolation early. (Source: Other)
Additional measures will be put in place following the incident, with anyone who may have come in contact with the women to be tested - including those who were on the flight from Australia - "just to make sure we have really ringfenced the possibility of any spread", he said.
He said while he did not have additional information on Tuesday about the women’s interaction with their friends as they left Auckland, having received the information yesterday afternoon, their interaction with their friends was low-risk.
Dr Bloomfield said the women called their friends to meet up with them to ensure they were heading in the right direction after first travelling north, rather than south, to Wellington, during which one of the two friends put their arm around one of the women.
The friends are now in self-isolation and have undergone a Covid-19 test. The friend from whom the women lent the car has since tested negative.
Dr Bloomfield reiterated his confidence in the unlikelihood of community spread after the women told a falsehood about their prior interaction, saying a medical officer of health observed that follow-up phone calls resulted in further information “coming to light”.
“People just often do not recall some of these things, or that it wouldn’t have crossed their minds that it might have been important,” he said.
There have since been several follow-up interactions to identify all possible risks.
But Peter Boshier says this week’s events show there is no room for error. (Source: Other)
In the past week, 90 people have been granted exemption from their quarantine facilities due to compassionate or medical grounds. The team has since been asked to “look at every single one of those cases and follow them up and to make sure if they weren’t tested, they are tested”.
Dr Bloomfield said while the granting of exemptions has “very strict guidance and criteria” with “explicit protocols” they must follow, the ministry now knows that “under Alert Level 1, nobody can attend a funeral”.
Health Minister David Clark has since stopped the granting of compassionate exemptions “until he’s confident that all the procedures are in place”, he said.
Dr Bloomfield said while Ms Ardern has since brought in the military to manage isolation and quarantine, the “overall operation of the quarantine facilities has been an all-of-government effort up ‘til now and it remains an all-of-government effort”.
However, he took responsibility for the “gap” in their roll-out of additional testing from last week, which he said did not happen “as quickly, as comprehensively, as I thought it was happening”.
“It is now well in place since I found out - around middle of the day Tuesday - about this case,” he said.
“A message went out to all the facilities that no one is to leave managed isolation or quarantine, in addition to the 14 days that they have to be in there, unless they have returned a negative test.
"I’m taking responsibility for ensuring that gap in the system that happened here doesn’t happen again and continue to keep ourselves safe.”
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