Lion New Zealand warehouse closed after visit from Covid-positive truck driver

A warehouse in Christchurch has been closed after being visited by a truck driver who has tested positive for Covid-19. Photo / George Heard

A warehouse in Christchurch has been closed after being visited by a truck driver who has tested positive for Covid-19.

A spokesperson for beverage company Lion New Zealand said the case visited its Hornby warehouse, which is managed by Move Logistics.

"This relates to an external truck driver who had been delivering bulk goods between two warehouses. The truck driver is not a Move or Lion employee," they said.

He had not been delivering to Lion customers, stores or venues.

The site has been closed for deep cleaning and is expected to reopen on Monday.

Move Logistics executive director Chris Dunphy told the Herald they were advised by one of their clients that a Toll Group driver had been confirmed as having the virus.

The driver attended one of their client's warehousing sites on October 19 and 20. He was asymptomatic at the time.

"Once we had been contacted by our client, we had our team members on our warehousing site tested, the site has subsequently been closed and is being deep cleaned," he said.

All team members have returned a negative first test as of this morning.

Dunphy said anybody living in the South Island is disappointed by any cases emerging.

"We have to be ready and aware of possible outbreaks. We are a service provider, we certainly make sure our drivers are regularly tested and very stringent in encouraging all of our drivers to be fully vaccinated.

"We are doing everything we can to minimise not only contact but to be fully cognisant of creating a safe workplace for our people," he said.

Dunphy said he would like the Government to implement mandatory vaccination for transport and logistics workers.

"We think that's something that should occur with due haste."