A Whangārei Hospital patient got more than he expected when he allegedly stole a Northland DHB employee’s car and ran it off with a recently wiped Covid-19 test.
Whangarei Hospital, Northland. Source: Google Maps
On Friday afternoon, while being rushed to the hospital, the patient ran away, jumped into the front seat of the car of the worker who was packing something out of the trunk, and drove away.
“In the car was a cooling container with a Covid-19 swab,” a DHB spokesman for Northland told 1NEWS.
The police were called and were able to locate the car and return it undamaged. The patient was taken back to the hospital.
The swab was not tampered with and was taken to the laboratory with a negative result returned.
The DHB noted that the incident was “an exceptionally rare occurrence,” but said that it is still investigating what happened, but is confident that there was no danger to public safety.
The employee is back at work today.
