Canterbury DHB Confirms First Cases Of COVID-19 On Chatham Islands

Canterbury DHB’s COVID-19 Emergency Coordination Centre Controller, Dr Helen Skinner confirmed this afternoon that two Chatham Island residents have tested positive for COVID-19.

They are isolating and being supported on the Island.

“We encourage anyone who isn’t vaccinated or hasn’t had their booster to get vaccinated as soon as possible – the Chatham Islands Health Centre will be offering vaccinations tomorrow.

Vaccinations will be available at the Chatham Islands Health Centre. Please call to book an appointment – 03 305 0035

Dr Skinner said the DHB would be distributing RAT tests to all households on the Islands early this week, as a precaution to allow early detection of positive cases.

“We encourage anyone who has symptoms to have a RAT test and report their results to My Covid Record mycovidrecord.health.nz any positive results should also be reported to the local health centre so that we can support follow up,” Dr Skinner said.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include:

• new or worsening cough
• sneezing and runny nose
• fever
• temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste
• sore throat
• shortness of breath

Less common symptoms of COVID-19 may include diarrhoea, headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, malaise, chest pain, abdominal pain, joint pain or confusion/irritability. These almost always occur with one or more of the common symptoms.

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