Meanwhile, a Duntroon couple have talked about their wait for test results, in a bid to cull rumours Covid-19 is in their small town already.
Nerves are jangling throughout Otago and Southland before the expected arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which has set case number records around the world.
Social media has flared up several times in the past fortnight with rumours of cases in the region, none of which have turned out to be true.
A reported possible case who had visited Otago Boys High School earlier this week was cleared up on Wednesday, that person’s initial positive Rapid Antigen Test (Rat) being followed up with a negative PCR test.
The Ministry of Health website says a positive result of any Rat requires a confirmation PCR test taken by a healthcare professional as the Rat is not as accurate at detecting Covid-19.
Southern District Health Board staff have been regularly dealing with inquiries from the public and media about Covid cases.
Several of those rumours have circulated in the past two days after construction work at Dunedin Hospital to keep future Covid-19 patients separated from the hospital population was construed by some observers to mean Covid-positive people were already in the building.
"As Omicron spreads throughout New Zealand it is understandable that people in the Southern community will start to hear misinformation about positive cases in their region," SDHB medical officer of health Dr Michael Butchard said.
"We want to assure the public that communities will be notified when we have a confirmed positive case.
"The Ministry of Health and Southern District Health Board are an accurate source of information," Dr Butchard said.
"We will release any information about cases in our communities, or any other relevant information for Southern, when it has been confirmed as true and accurate."
Omicron case numbers continued to creep up yesterday, the Ministry of Health reporting 209 new community transmission cases.
None were in the South Island, but three cases in Nelson-Marlborough that came in after deadline will be added to official statistics today.
Queenstown Airport and the Hotel St Moritz remain listed as locations of interest after a visitor tested positive to Covid-19 after returning home.
The ministry yesterday added that person’s flight, NZ622 from Queenstown to Auckland at 3pm on January 22, to its locations of interest.
The closure of the Duntroon Garage this week prompted some concern on social media and rumours there was a Covid case in the Waitaki Valley township
Those have been cleared up by the garage’s owners, Andrew and Sonya Pickles, who said they closed as a precaution after their daughter, who visited from Blenheim last week, subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
They have been isolating at home since their daughter’s visit.
They had also been providing updates about the garage’s closure, and their daughter’s Covid status, with the Duntroon community on Facebook, which had prompted some concern and rumours there was a Covid case in the Waitaki Valley township, before it was clarified their daughter had returned to Blenheim.
Mr and Mrs Pickles had been tested and were waiting for results, but they had no symptoms.
"There’s no confirmation as yet, and hopefully there won’t be," Mr Pickles said.
"We’ve been prudent, just to make sure if there is anything it’s not going to spread."
The Duntroon Garage has not been listed as a location of interest.
The SDHB would not comment on specific cases, but a spokeswoman said if a business had not been listed as a location of interest it was because a positive case had not visited that premises during their infectious period or because all people who had visited that location had been identified and contacted.
