Covid 19 coronavirus: Reports of 'positive case' at supermarket were incorrect

Suggestions a positive Covid-19 case visited an Auckland Pak'nSave supermarket over the course of a week, sometimes for up to an hour, are wrong.

Instead, the person attended the Glen Innes store last Wednesday, August 12, for about half an hour.

At the 1pm press conference on Tuesday, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said a positive case visited the Apirana Ave store multiple times.

The visits reportedly took place between July 31 and August 8.

Auckland Regional Public Health Service has advised Foodstuffs, the owner of Pak'nSave, the customer had no symptoms at the time they visited on Wednesday.

Staff and shoppers who were at the store at the time were considered to be at low risk, Foodstuffs said in a statement.

Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

ARPHS has asked anyone who was at the store at the time to be vigilant for Covid-19 symptoms.

Anyone experiencing symptoms, including a sore throat, new or worsening cough, fever, or loss of smell, should call Healthline for advice.

The error about the shopper's movements comes after Bloomfield last week said Pakuranga College was closed and linked to a new case of Covid-19.

Pakuranga College principal Mike Williams was later told it does not have a positive case at the school despite the announcement.

He said the error caused "huge stress in our community" and left him with no confidence in the health system.

"If that's how their system is, it's no wonder we've got Covid," he said.

"It doesn't give you any confidence, does it? Can you have confidence in the Ministry of Health any more? No."

And on Monday, David Letele, known as the Brown Buttabean, says a positive Covid-19 case attended a fitness training class in West Auckland, not Kingsland as reported by Bloomfield.

Bloomfield announced the case had attended a Buttabean Motivation class on August 10, however, Letele said the case attended a class in West Auckland.

Elsewhere, it was revealed yesterday there is a confirmed Covid-19 case not linked to the Auckland August cluster.

The man, a maintenance worker at the managed isolation facility at the Rydges Hotel, tested positive on Sunday, August 16.

He has since been whisked away to the Jet Park Hotel for isolation but the man reportedly went to work with a cough for two days before he was tested.

The cough was put down to a pre-existing condition and the man also passed his health checks at the time, including a temperature check.

The first day he was tested was the same day the South Auckland cluster was detected, and the day after, when Auckland was sent back to alert level 3.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins says it is standard procedure for workers in a similar position to the maintenance worker to be temperature checked.

"We don't test people every single day, we do have a system of regular testing, there was regular testing at the hotel where he was working at the week before," he said on Newstalk ZB's Heather Du Plessis-Allan Drive

"He was picked up in a regular sweep of testing the following week. We do have to monitor people in between times but we don't test them every day."