Cantabrians are concerned a managed isolation worker who tested positive for Covid-19 in Christchurch yesterday isn't isolating in a quarantine facility.
However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning it'll be up to public health workers on the ground to decide where is best for the person to isolate.
"We always go through a process after a positive test of working through where the best place for someone to be is," Ardern said.
The staff member works at the Sudima Christchurch Airport hotel, where a number of international mariners who tested positive for the virus are housed.
Because they work at a managed isolation facility, the staff member was part of the Government's screening testing.
Ardern told Breakfast the person tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday but developed mild symptoms over the weekend.
The person is a staff member at the hotel where there is an outbreak among overseas fishermen.
"Working in a facility, you're very aware of your own health and symptoms."
The person stayed mostly to themselves, but had one household contact who has so far tested negative for the coronavirus.
They also had one supermarket visit - reported by Newstalk ZB as Countdown on Colombo St - which Ardern said is undergoing a deep clean.
Ardern said health staff on the ground would now be working with the infected person on where they will go next.
"We do let the public health workers on the ground work through the best place for someone to be. Often it will be that there's a range of circumstances they'll take into account to determine where they should be. But for the most part, most of the time, of course, our cases go back into a facility."
Ardern said it is not a case of a full managed isolation facility.
"This case was only identified yesterday afternoon so it's not unusual for just a bit of time to be taken to identify all of their close contacts, do the testing that needs to be undertaken and then work through making sure that we're putting the person into the facility if that's the right place for them to be," she said.
"It's not unusual just to make sure that conversations are had on the ground with the person."
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