'I'm on the verge of breaking' - Family stuck in quarantine for 16 days waiting on rogue Covid-19 test result

August 18, 2020

Robert Wihongi, his partner and two children have been isolating in Auckland since arriving from Brisbane on August 2.

An emotional father says his children have been in tears for days as they're stuck in managed isolation past their cut off date waiting for a rogue Covid-19 test result to clear them to leave.

Robert Wihongi is staying at Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre in Mount Wellington, Auckland, with his partner and two children.

They arrived back in New Zealand from Brisbane on August 2.

The family all tested negative for the virus on day three of their stay. On day 12 they were tested again but only got three tests back - all of which were negative.

The fourth hasn't been returned. 

It means they've now been quarantined for 16 days, and aren't allowed to leave without that final negative test.

Mr Wihongi asked if the child, whose test didn't return with the rest, can take another but he was told no because it may clash with the pending results from their day 12 swab.

"I'm willing to walk out the door to get a result, you know, if it takes me to walk out that door and get arrested to get a result," Mr Wihongi told 1 NEWS.

"People are walking out today, they've been here after we arrived and they're walking out saying 'we're going today'.

"When you get the run around it's just fully stressful.

"It's taken a toll on my two children, they're in tears for the last few days.

"I'm on the verge of breaking at the moment and I'm a calm person."

Mr Wihongi said the family had kept calm until this stage of isolation, but now they're frustrated.

"We let them [health officials] do their job up to the day 14, now we're just trying to follow up on what's going on and that's the stressful part," he said, adding that family members were waiting in Bombay for their release from quarantine.

"We thought we can handle two weeks, but anything past that we're not sure from now on in."

Mr Wihongi also said "misinformation" was being shared by health officials about how long it takes to get test results.

"What's the hold up? We're getting information on TV about the 28-48 hour turnover, it's not actually happening to the people that are just little families in isolation. What's the hold up then?"

He said the family decided to return home to be with family amid the pandemic, as well as uncertainty with work in Australia.

"We decided it was the best plan for the kids for now to come back, reassess, live here and then maybe later on when everything's back to some sort of normality we may in the future go back."

When asked at today's 1pm briefing why the test result had not yet returned, Health Minister Chris Hipkins said he was unaware of the case.

"We'll have a look," Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield added.

"The managed isolation tests, particularly those ones where people have to return a negative test before they go, we try to prioritise those.

"Of course the Auckland labs have been processing high volumes but we'll work with the managed isolation facilities to make sure that those tests do get prioritised."

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