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National | Chris Hipkins

Border Covid-19 case probed, Roskill Countdown 'location of interest'

The government has confirmed a worker at an Auckland managed isolation facility has tested positive and investigations are underway to determine if there is a further transmission.

Last night the government received a notification that the worker at Auckland's Grand Millennium Hotel had tested positive for Covid-19. The worker and their family immediately went into isolation at their home.

The family has since been tested, with three results coming back negative and one that is still under investigation - that person returned a weak positive result and they are being retested today.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the contact tracing process to the positive case at the border is underway.

"While this case is connected to the border, we do see it as low risk to the community," Hipkins says.

"I want to stress that the result was picked up during surveillance testing. So this is the system working as we intended."

Hipkins says the hotel worker is asymptomatic, which means they do not produce or show any symptoms.

Since March 1 there have been eight positive cases of Covid-19 at the Grand Millennium Hotel.

Location of interest 

The Mount Roskill Countdown has been confirmed as a location of interest, which was visited by the person who has tested positive between 3pm and 3.15pm on Saturday, March 20.

Health director-general Dr Ashley Bloomfield says anyone who was at the Mount Roskill Countdown on Stoddard Road during the time the positive case had visited the location needs to be alert for Covid-19 symptoms.

"The symptoms to be aware of are cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, temporary loss of smell and, of course, as we've seen in more recent cases - muscle aches."

Vaccination

The new case had received both vaccinations of Pfizer-BioNTech provided to border workers.

Dr Bloomfield says, "We know the vaccine is effective at preventing infection, preventing severe disease if a vaccinated person does become infected. And also there is emerging evidence for it preventing transmission."

Details on getting a vaccination can be found here.

And if you or your whānau have symptoms, contact Healthline here or call 0800 611 116.