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A visitor to Hobbiton, the New Zealand Hobbit-related tourist attraction, later tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival back in their home country, according to reports yesterday.

Hobbiton deputy chief executive Shayne Forrest told the New Zealand Herald the person was with a group which toured the film set at noon on Friday, 7 August. Staff and customers who had been on the same tour had been notified and advised to watch for any Covid-19 symptoms. The home country of the infected person was not disclosed.

It is possible the person acquired the infection after returning home, meaning they would not have been contagious in New Zealand.

Forrest told the NZ Herald that health authorities considered the risk to visitors and staff was very low.

“We have stringent cleaning measures in place across the site, including cleaning of coaches between departures.”

New Zealand, which got rid of Covid-19 with no community transmission for over 100 days, is currently battling a sudden recurrence of the coronavirus. The country recorded another six cases of the disease yesterday, five of which are linked to the Auckland cluster that sparked the country’s second wave of infection. The sixth is a woman in her 50s in hotel isolation, who returned to New Zealand from Qatar, via Sydney, on 14 August.

New Zealand news outlet Stuff.co.nz quoted Ash Tanner, Mayor of Matamata-Piako (a local government district in the Waikato region, where Hobbiton is located) saying he understood that the Hobbiton visitor who tested positive left New Zealand more than a week ago.

“I’m taking the optimistic view this person contracted coronavirus travelling back through airports or contracted it back in their country,” Tanner said, adding that Hobbiton was “hurting enough” with the loss of international tourists. The attraction reopened its doors to tour groups on 30 May.

Written by Peter Needham