Whanganui DHB encourages anyone with flu-like symptoms to get tested for Covid-19

The Whanganui DHB has tested 5176 people for Covid-19 so far. Photo / Bevan Conley

It has been 112 days since the last positive Covid-19 case within the Whanganui region but health officials are still urging people with specific Covid-19 symptoms to go to the community-based assessment centre.

"The current case definition covers any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: new or worsening cough; sore throat; shortness of breath; sneezing; runny nose; loss of sense of smell; with or without fever," Whanganui's chief medical officer of health Dr Patrick O'Connor said.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand woman who tested positive for Covid-19 after flying from Auckland to Sydney late last month said she isolated in Whanganui after returning to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in March and began to feel sick.

The woman said she tried to get tested for Covid-19 twice in Whanganui then but was refused.

She said her symptoms did not align with the ones they were testing for at the time but believes that was when she was infected.

O'Connor said the number of test kits would not stop someone being tested at alert level 4.

"They would not be tested if they did not meet the case definition as it stood at that time," he said.

"However, even people who were not swabbed, as they did not meet the criteria, were still managed by our team, being advised to isolate as per alert level 4 restrictions and supported by follow-up phone calls to track their progress."

As of August 2, the DHB has tested 5176 people within the region.

The CBAC is still operating out of the hospital campus from Monday to Friday, 8am to 4.30pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 1pm.

Alternatively, people can phone their GP and may be able to get tested there.

"Whanganui DHB is confident in its procedures and is working to make sure it is prepared should there be a return of the virus," O'Connor said.