Auckland KFC worker confirmed as new Covid-19 community case

February 26, 2021

A KFC worker told 1 NEWS head office had told them the fast food outlet had to shut.

An Auckland KFC worker has been confirmed with Covid-19 today.

The Ministry of Health says today's new case, referred to as Case L, worked at KFC Botany Downs between 3.30pm on Monday and 12.30am on Tuesday.

Case L is a household contact of cases I, J and K in the Auckland February cluster. Case A is a student at Papatoetoe High School and Case B is her mother, who works doing laundry for international airline crew.

The case, who has been in quarantine since Tuesday, initially returned a negative test on arrival in quarantine, but then developed symptoms and returned a positive test.

The Prime Minister says they do have the option for legal repercussions for the breaches, but they “aren’t what we want”.

"As the person was possibly infectious for up to 48 hours prior to developing symptoms, Case L’s workplace is being treated as a location of interest," the Ministry of Health said.

The Botany KFC restaurant closed for a deep clean this afternoon; a person wearing PPE was seen entering the building for cleaning.

A worker outside the KFC told 1 NEWS that head office told them they had to shut.

KFC says it was told of the positive case by the Ministry of Health today.

A spokesperson told 1 NEWS the store had been "operating under Alert Level 2.5 conditions". Auckland was at Level 1 at the time; the spokesperson did not elaborate on what those conditions were.

"Our customers and staff are our number one priority — as soon as we were notified, the store immediately closed for a deep clean and all staff that worked during this time have been asked to self-isolate and get tested," the KFC spokesperson says.

The latest case worked nine hours at a KFC on Monday when they should have already been isolating.

"We are working closely with the Ministry of Health and will continue to take every safety precaution."

The Ministry of Health said 11 KFC staff who worked at the same time as Case L, deemed close plus contacts, should get tested for Covid-19. They are required to isolate for 14 days along with their household contacts.

Anyone who entered the store when the case was working are close contacts and should isolate at home for the remainder of the 14 day period - until March 8 - and should get a test on day five, which is tomorrow, and day 12, the Ministry of Health said.

As well, those who went through the restaurant's drive-thru at the time are casual plus contacts and should isolate at home until a negative day five test result is returned.

"We are asking anyone affected by this latest KFC exposure event to get tested tomorrow not today to limit waiting times at testing centres. All contacts should call Healthline," the Minsitry of Health said.

Yesterday marked two consecutive days of no new Covid-19 community cases.

On Tuesday three new community cases of the virus were confirmed , cases I, J and K, linked to the Papatoetoe High School cluster.

Meanwhile, there were two new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation today.

They were a person who arrived from the Philippines via Hong Kong on February 12. They tested positive in Auckland on day 12.

The other case is a person who arrived from the UK via Singapore on February 22. They tested positive on arrival in Auckland.

The NZ COVID Tracer app now has 2.68 million registered users. 

"We know there’s interest in several big events in Auckland this weekend," the Health Ministry said.

"Auckland remains in Alert Level 1 which means that public events and activities can continue this weekend.

"As always, if you are going to an event, scan using the Covid Tracer app, sanitise and if you are unwell, please stay home."

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