A health worker at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital who was put in quarantine after an incident involving a PPE equipment was part of the team helping treat a COVID-19 patient from Fiji, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
On Friday night, the ministry said the health professional had been placed in quarantine "as a precaution following a PPE protocol incident during the management of a COVID-19 patient".
"The health professional promptly reported the incident and has been moved into a quarantine facility as they were unable to easily quarantine at home," a spokesperson for the ministry said on Friday.
The ministry said the breach was "minor", adding that other protections were in place and no one else was affected. The health professional is also fully vaccinated.
"Any risks from this incident are low,' the ministry said.
It is unclear whether the worker was working with the patient from Fiji at the time the PPE breach took place.
The COVID-19 patient transferred to New Zealand from Fiji is a senior official for the United Nations (UN) Development Programme.
The UN says it has a duty of care for its employees but some experts in New Zealand say the patient should never have been transferred here as it puts the country "at unnecessary risk".
