Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Middlemore Hospital patients in same room as positive case test negative

By Rowan Quinn of RNZ

The three patients most at risk of contracting Covid-19 from a man they shared a room with at Middlemore Hospital have returned negative day three tests.

The fellow patients spent hours in the small ward with the man who was initially admitted to a part of the hospital for people with a low risk of Covid-19 but later found to have the virus.

More than 80 patients and 29 staff were potentially exposed.

The earliest day-three test results were all negative on Wednesday night, and more results were due this morning.

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Middlemore Hospital chief medical officer Dr Pete Watson said he was relieved the three patients in the same ward were negative.

That may have been helped by the room's airflow, with air exiting near the man's bed, and staff said the man was wearing a mask, Watson said.

The three were not out of the woods yet, with crucial day five tests happening tomorrow.

Several of the man's family had tested positive.

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Watson said he had apologised to the people who shared the ward.

"They were understandably anxious, upset, confused and wanted some explanation," he said.

One of four wards that were closed because of a risk of Covid-19 having spread through the ventilation have now reopened.

It was deemed "an extremely low risk," Watson said.

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The other three wards would have their ventilation systems changed to allow less airflow between them and other parts of the hospital, he said.

Changes had been made to the hospital's Covid-19 screening to now include abdominal pain, which was the man's only symptom when he first arrived, Watson said.