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The Health Ministry is conducting an internal review on how a message was issued encouraging everyone in South and West Auckland to get tested for Covid-19.
Deputy Director General for Health Robyn Shearer brought up the review towards the end of the daily Covid-19 briefing on Monday, when Health Minister Chris Hipkins faced continual questions about the bug.
Shearer said the ministry took credit for the error, which saw a message on social media on Friday that read: “If you are in the south or west of Auckland, or if you are at increased risk of health problems if you have Covid -19, even if you don’t have symptoms, get tested. “
This message remained online until Sunday morning, when questions were raised about it.
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It differs substantially from health advice, which is that only people who have symptoms or are in contact with cases should be tested, along with other asymptomatic tests.
Ardern said Sunday it was a case of “simplified communication.”
“You asked a question that was not correct. We are not asking everyone in the west and south of Auckland to take an exam. That is not our question, ”Ardern said.
“It’s wrong. It was very simplified and now we are working very hard to deal with what that has created with the community.”
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Deputy Director General of Health Robyn Shearer.
About 700,000 people live in the west and south of Auckland. More than 758,000 tests have been completed since March.
Hipkins said Monday that the guide was “lost in translation.”
“I think what happened was a relatively long set of guidance on who should be evaluated and then it translated into a couple of sentences that were put into a social media ad,” Hipkins said.
“Sometimes the line between a line leaving Wellington and getting where it needs to go can be confusing.
“I’m not interested in pointing fingers or attributing blame.”
However, Shearer said the Health Ministry had taken over the problem and was conducting a review of what happened.
CONTROL POINT / RNZ
The Health Ministry released a bug review that saw hundreds of thousands of Auckland residents advised to get tested for Covid-19 when they didn’t need it.
“We will see in detail how we can improve that practice,” Shearer said.
“This is a protocol change – ensuring that when we post information on the website we have the correct approval from the appropriate public health practitioners.”
He could not immediately say when the review will be completed or if it will be released to the public in full.
“We will be happy to communicate the findings,” Shearer said.
