Covid 19 coronavirus: Wellington bar Jack Hackett's visited by infected traveller still open this morning

A Wellington bar visited by a traveller from Australia who tested positive for Covid-19 was still open this morning despite health officials being alerted to the case last night.

Jack Hackett's Irish Pub, on Dixon St, in Wellington's Te Aro is among 14 locations of interest that also include Te Papa Tongarewa, Rydges Hotel, and Unichem Wellington Central Pharmacy.

Wellington's regional public health unit said New Zealand's contact tracing team were working with their Australian counterparts to gather more information about the movements.

It expected there would be more sites added to the list across the day and urged people to keep watch for updates. The traveller, who later tested positive for Covid-19 upon his return to Australia, visited the capital over the weekend. New South Wales health officials say the man has contracted the more transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus.
Kushla Mathie, Jack Hackett's venue manager, said she heard the news at about 9'oclock this morning.

"We were open for the football so we immediately closed," Mathie said.

"We have been in contact with our cleaners and they are coming in about 11 o'clock to do a deep clean and we are just doing a pack down of all the stuff on the bar at the moment just me and another colleague who weren't here on Saturday night."

Mathie said they had been in contact with all the staff to let them know what is going on, and all the staff that were working on Saturday, and recommended they get themselves tested and not come back to work till they've received a negative test result.

She said they will have a sit down with their bosses today about what the situation is moving forward and will keep their staff informed tonight about what will be happening over the next couple of days.

Te Papa in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Mathie said they hadn't heard anything from the Government, just the hospitality association. However, she said they are part of a bigger company so someone higher up may have been contacted.

She said she tried to get through to Healthline but couldn't get through so talked to the hospitality association about their obligations.