Middlemore patient who tested positive ‘should have been isolated’ – Bloomfield

A man with Covid-19 who spent hours with other patients at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital should have been isolated from others on the ward directly after being tested, Dr Ashley Bloomfield has said. Stuff reports the patient came to the emergency department with a health issue unrelated to Covid. Later concerns about his condition resulted in him being tested, but he was only moved into a ward dedicated to Covid patients after a positive result was confirmed. “We will be reviewing our practices to identify if there were any undue delays in the diagnosis of Covid-19 of this patient and to check appropriate procedures and processes were followed,” a health board spokesperson said.