Trade Minister Damien O'Connor tests positive for Covid following US trip with PM

Trade Minister Damien O'Connor has tested positive for Covid-19.

Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor has announced tonight he has tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from the Government's trade mission to the US.

O'Connor accompanied Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern along with business leaders in the tourism sector on a trip covering New York, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. They departed on May 23.

The Trade Minister announced today at 8.05pm on Twitter that he had finally caught the virus after some good luck on previous work trips overseas.

He will have to miss the meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) council in Paris starting June 9.

"I've tested positive for Covid-19 after having managed to dodge it on 6 trips abroad. Feeling OK. Glad to be home," O'Connor said.

"I was about to announce travel this week to the OECD in Paris and then the WTO in Geneva. Unfortunately I now won't be able to make the OECD, but all going well will complete isolation and do the 2nd leg of the trip to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference the following week. An important one for trade."

...but all going well will complete isolation and do the 2nd leg of the trip to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference the following week. An important one for trade.

— Damien O'Connor (@DamienOConnorMP) June 4, 2022

Ardern's trip this week was a sprint around five cities in the US in as many days on a mission to get tourists back to New Zealand and goods from New Zealand to the US.

It took her and a business delegation to New York, to Washington DC to meet a raft of senators, to San Francisco to meet California Governor Gavin Newsom, to Harvard's graduation ceremony, and to meetings with the bosses of big tech companies in Seattle.

She also met with US President Joe Biden before returning to New Zealand.