Ardern says it's 'frustrating' some Covid-19 sufferers aren't fully disclosing close contacts

September 9, 2020

The Prime Minister said other countries have had similar issues in contact tracing Covid-19 cases.

Jacinda Ardern says it is "frustrating" that some people have not been fully open with contact tracing teams, after new cases of Covid-19 emerged outside isolation.

"That is frustrating, but it is one of the things that actually is not unique to New Zealand. Any contact tracing system does come against these issues from time to time," the Prime Minister told media today.

She spoke after it was announced yesterday a student at St Dominic's Catholic College in Auckland tested positive for Covid-19.

This morning, Health Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ it appeared the student was a close contact of the sub-cluster that had  not been previously disclosed .

Parents were informed of the virus case in a newsletter on September 9.

The authorities are now looking into whether that was on purpose.

"That's one of the things that the investigation is looking at now and it will include looking at whether there was a deliberate decision not to disclose, or whether it was simply an oversight," Hipkins said.

Ardern said it was not those currently affected who were in the wrong, but added that they may have come into contact with others "who have not necessarily been as helpful to our health people on the ground".

"It just demonstrates how important it is that people really to work closely with our health team on the ground," she said.

"To keep other people safe we do need to know people's close contacts, we do need to know what their activity has been, and again, this is not because people are in trouble, it's because that's how we look after one-another."

Soon after Ardern spoke to media, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced six new cases of Covid-19 in the country today - all in the community.


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