Covid 19 coronavirus: Mt Albert Grammar making progress in getting all students and teachers tested

An Auckland school asked to get all of its 3000 students and staff tested for Covid-19 has had most of its results back.

Everyone at Mt Albert Grammar School was asked to get tested after two students tested positive in separate circumstances.

A spokesperson for Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) said as at 5pm today, labs in metro Auckland had registered about 2100 tests from Mt Albert Grammar students and staff.

"Over 95 per cent have been processed and all are negative,"

Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) asked staff and students to be tested at any community testing centre, as a precaution, to identify any undiagnosed cases.

The first case at the school was a teenager linked to a family who were one of the first identified in the Auckland cluster, which has now become the largest in New Zealand, on August 12.

The pupil turned up to classes on the Monday before a region-wide lockdown, unaware he was infected.

The second student tested positive on Thursday and was believed to have been infectious between August 5 and 11

Other students or staff were feared to have caught the virus during that time and those who had not been tested since August 17 were asked to do so.

However, in his newsletter on Friday, headmaster Patrick Drumm said the school will reopen on Monday even if results are not back for all students by then.

A sports team from St Cuthbert's College played a Mt Albert Grammar team on August 6.

The seven players had been tested, but as of yesterday, only five had their results back. All were negative.

Mt Albert Grammar Headmaster Pat Drumm said he plans to reopen the school whether all the results have come back or not as it had been closed for nearly three weeks. Photo / Dean Purcell

Principal Justine Mahon said the Ministry of Health advised that all seven members of the sports team are considered to be close contacts of a player in the opposing team who tested positive for the virus.

She said St Cuthbert's wouldn't reopen until the remaining two players had received their test results back.

The Ministry of Education has ordered all Auckland state and state-integrated schools to reopen for all students on Monday, but Mahon said private schools have "more latitude".

"I think there is a difference between low risk and no risk, so I'm waiting to hear from the final two families," she earlier told the Herald.