5 Apr 2020

Covid-19: About 660 police officers and staff in isolation

1:44 pm on 5 April 2020

Hundreds of New Zealand's police - about 5 percent of the organisation - are in self isolation.

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Photo: RNZ / Patrice Allen

There are 664 sworn and non-sworn staff are off work. Of that number 381 are front line staff and 283 are non-sworn.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said they had managed to move a lot of staff around, so overall it had not affected services to the public.

He said many of those in isolation were due to complete it shortly, and with testing ramping up it was becoming much clearer who may or may not have been exposed to the Covid-19 coronavirus.

  • If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre

There are still only two known confirmed cases in the police force.

Cahill said the distancing regime and personal protection equipment (PPE) police had been supplied with was keeping them safe.

Police conference in Wellington. Chris Cahill, NZ Police Association.

Chris Cahill Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

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