A Whangārei Hospital patient got more than they bargained for when allegedly carjacking a Northland DHB worker's car, making off with a recently swabbed Covid-19 test.
On Friday afternoon, while being escorted to hospital, the patient ran off, jumping into the front seat of the worker's car who was grabbing something from the boot, and driving away.
"There was a chilly bin in the car that had a Covid-19 swab in it," a Northland DHB spookesperson told 1NEWS.
Police were called in and managed to track down the car, returning it undamaged. The patient was taken back to hospital.
The swab was untampered with and taken to the lab, returning a negative result.
Noting the incident was "an extraordinarily rare event", the DHB said it is still investigating what happened but are confident there was no risk to public safety.
The employee is back at work today.
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