'I'm very stressed' - Covid-19 result delays disrupt plans of 12 people leaving managed isolation

July 14, 2020

One guest told 1 NEWS his family was cleared to leave but his results were still pending.

Lost Covid-19 test results have disrupted the plans of more than a dozen people wanting to leave a managed isolation facility in Auckland.

One of the 12 people has told 1 NEWS officials still couldn’t tell him what had happened to his final test result late this afternoon.

Michael Lane and his family’s exit from a facility is now on hold until his results come through.

“I was told my results were negative as were my wife’s and daughters and then it turns out that they have apparently misplaced 12 results,” Mr Lane said.

The Government initially pointed to the manual tracing system that ensures results are correctly matched.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said he had “been given reassurance that all will be resolved by the end of the day” and “that people’s departure will not be affected”.

But it's delayed the whole family's departure from the Novotel Ellerslie and forced changes to car rental arrangements, personal appointments and reuniting with whānau.

“Last I was told the problem was at the labs so they're trying to coordinate and figure out where our tests went,” Mr Lane said.

Mr Hipkins said the labs are doing very very well but one of the issues is that it’s a manual system.

“We are moving to a digitised system,” he said.

In a statement to 1 NEWS tonight, the Ministry of Health said it expects the results will be through by 7pm and 12 affected people will be able to leave the facility tonight if their results are negative.

The Ministry of Health didn’t explain what had happened to the results, just that they were lost.

“I'm feeling very stressed having been told we were negative we went ahead with the plans and now they've all gone to hell and beyond,” said Mr Lane.

SHARE ME

More Stories