Exposure Event At Middlemore Hospital

Counties Manukau DHB has this evening advised the Ministry of Health of a COVID-19 exposure event at Middlemore Hospital.

It comes after a patient today returned a positive COVID-19 test result.

The case presented to Middlemore Hospital’s Emergency Department on Friday (8 October) for a non-COVID-19 related issue where they were assessed and admitted.

The patient answered no to all COVID-19 screening questions and was asymptomatic.

On Sunday (10 October) the patient developed a cough, was tested, and today returned a positive COVID-19 result. The patient was immediately moved to an isolation ward.

Acting out of an abundance of caution, as of this evening, 40 patients have been identified as contacts as a result of the exposure event. Of these, 15 are inpatients while the remaining 25 are being followed-up by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service.

In addition, 34 staff have also been identified as contacts. Of these, 21 staff have been stood down with testing plans.

While there have been a number of exposure events at Middlemore Hospital, this is not unexpected as there are a number of subclusters in South Auckland, for which Middlemore is the local hospital.

To date, no exposure events at Middlemore Hospital have resulted in COVID-19 transmission to other patients or staff.

A further update will be included in the Ministry’s 1pm statement tomorrow.

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