A friend of New Zealand's two COVID-19 cases who met them during their trip to Wellington has apparently tested negative for the illness.
The woman, who is said to have met the pair when they got lost on the Auckland motorway on Saturday, attended Lioness - The Gym for Women on Tuesday, according to a Wednesday post on the gym's Facebook page.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told The AM Show on Thursday the friends had been tested and were awaiting their results. A Ministry of Health statement on Wednesday night said the friends had "limited physical contact" with the women for about five minutes.
According to a post on the gym's page later on Thursday, the member has tested negative.
"She was told to self isolate up to 48 hours. She decided to self isolate up to 14 days. Apparently another test will be done only if she is not feeling well," the post said.
"I will continue to self isolate with my family up to 14 days and have ourselves tested within this period. I will speak to COVID-19 and the Minister of Health to seek their advice. The classes and my activities at the gym will be suspended until I will finish my 14 days self isolation and we have a 100 confirmation and clarity on the situation."
The Ministry of Health has been contacted about the result.
The Wednesday post said the pair's friend didn't know they had tested positive until Tuesday afternoon, after she went to the gym in the morning.
"She came for her training session with myself and stayed back for our group classes. Fortunate enough we still have the 2m mark down in our class studio, however my training sessions was hands on," the post said.
While the woman was told by officials that it could continue with "normal activities" until the results were back, management decided to cancel all classes and appointments. The owner decided to self-isolate.
The two women were allowed to leave managed isolation on compassionate grounds after the death of a family member. After getting lost on the Auckland motorway, the pair rang friends who had earlier lended them a car to use on their trip to Wellington.
"The information I have got is that they took the wrong entry onto the motorway out of Auckland. I have lived in Auckland, but if you haven't lived in Auckland, you can get confused. They ended up heading north instead of south," Dr Bloomfield told The AM Show on Thursday.
"They were in a pretty distressed situation, a parent had just died the night before. They rang the friends, they met them by the side of the motorway just to make sure they were on their way. They were clearly very distressed and upset."
While meeting on the side of the road, "they had a conversation".
"At one point, one of the people who they met, put an arm around from the side, the woman," Dr Bloomfield said.
"The women themselves, the two cases, had no recollection of that and I think that reflects the fact they were so upset and distressed at the time. It was very fleeting."
