The Covid-19 community case in Northland is the South African strain, Covid recovery minister Chris Hipkins says.
Almost 10 hours - that is how long one Northland man waited in line to get tested for Covid-19.
Local primary school teacher Joel, who asked that his surname not be used, made sure to have a big breakfast before leaving the house yesterday; thinking he would be back in time for lunch.
But the morning trip with his wife would take much longer - taking almost four hours to even turn into the testing station carpark.
They arrived at the Pohe Island testing station, in Whangārei, about 9.30am.
"I was at the Kamo one first, but it was too long. We were backed up the road to get into there, so we went to Pohe Island.
He said the management of vehicles and testing could have been better.
There were also reports of drivers becoming frustrated as there was some confusion about the parking system.
"I really felt for the staff down there and for people with kids," Joel said.
"There was a woman behind us with two young kids. By the afternoon, she said they were going - she couldn't do that to her kids."
Four port-a-loos were brought in to the site about 11am and people were told they could also use the public toilets by the nearby skate park, he said.
Joel and his wife sought to get tested after reading that they had been at the Bed Bath & Beyond Whangārei, on January 15, at the same time the woman who has tested positive for the virus was in the store also.
Vehicles wait in line at the Pohe Island testing station yesterday. Photo / Karina Cooper
The store was one of 28 locations of interest released by the Ministry of Health on Sunday evening after news broke that afternoon that a Covid positive case had been identified in the community.
Joel said he had had a number of symptoms he wanted to rule out was connected to Covid-19 - including a dry throat, cough and a fever in the past two weeks.
'I was dumbfounded'
Last night, health officials released two more locations of interest - and Joel realised that they, too, had been at one of those places at the same time.
"We got home about 8 o'clock last night and I was just reading up on the news and saw that they'd added two more [locations of interest]."
He could not remember whether his symptoms started before they visited the stores or whether they started to appear afterwards.
The second location of interest Joel and his wife had visited at the same time as the community case was Farmers Whangārei, on the corner of Bank and Roberts Sts.
He did not understand why they were not included in the original list.
Joel acknowledged that the experience had reminded him of the need and importance of scanning in on the Covid-19 app at various businesses.
