Around 40 supermarkets are ‘low-risk’ locations of interest

September 1, 2021

Dr Ashley Bloomfield says those at the locations don’t need a test, but need to watch for symptoms.

Out of an “abundance of caution”, the Ministry of Health has added “around 40” supermarkets to the locations of interest list, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says. 

At 4pm, the ministry added 43 locations of interest including several Countdown, Pak'nSave, and New World stores across Auckland.

full list of locations of interest is available here.

Two supermarkets in Glen Innes, Tasi Market in Massey and a number of other grocery stores across South Auckland were also included.

The Director General of Health said the list includes those visited by people who subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. 

On Wednesday afternoon, the ministry added about 20 supermarkets.

Countdown's General Manager Corporate Affairs, Safety and Sustainability, Kiri Hannifin said Countdown Ponsonby and Warkworth locations are the newest to be identified. 

"The Countdown Ponsonby and Countdown Warkworth visits were the only ones we were unaware of prior to this afternoon’s list being released. All the other impacted stores have already been deep cleaned since these visits. Our Warkworth store is currently closed for cleaning and we hope to reopen the store later this evening. We will be closing Ponsonby shortly to carry out a deep clean there as well.

"We’ll also continue to work closely with the relevant health authorities and follow their guidance on which of our team, if any, are required to isolate and get tested.

"As we’ve done with all of our stores that have been locations of interest, we’re following our usual health and safety procedures, including deep cleaning any stores that require it. This is in addition to the thorough cleaning that is undertaken during each day, which has been further increased since the Alert Level 4 restrictions have been in place," Hannifin said.

Bloomfield said people who were at the locations of interest at the relevant times won’t need to get a test. Instead, they’re asked just to monitor their health for any Covid-19 symptoms.

The total number of new cases today is 75.

“Risk assessments have been done on each of them. Due to physical distancing in place, plastic screens and PPE use and so on, the events are deemed to be low risk,” he said. 

There are 75 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, Bloomfield announced on Wednesday.

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