news, local-news, Scott Morrison, Peter Gutwein, Mark Veitch, Tasmania, coronavirus, COVID-19

Premier Peter Gutwein said he does not believe there was a communication issue between the state and federal governments after Prime Minister Scott Morrison alleged a North-West health care worker lied to authorities. Mr Morrison told a Hobart radio station on Friday morning a health care worker in Tasmania who tested positive for COVID-19 had lied to contact tracers about their movements. Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for North-West Tasmania This comes after the nation's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told a New Zealand committee the Burnie outbreak was linked to an "illegal dinner party" earlier this week, a claim he later retracted. Premier Peter Gutwein said he would not be getting into this matter. "There is a process here in terms of the contact tracing. If there were an omission obviously as we work our way back through this appropriate steps will be taken," Mr Gutwein said. "At the end of the day, the person involved needs the opportunity to provide their view on the matter. "The key thing with this, and again in terms of the comments of Brendan Murphy earlier on in the week, is we have to control this virus." Mr Gutwein said he discussed this case with Mr Morrison over the phone on Thursday night. Public Health director Mark Veitch said neither he or his contact tracing team have provided specific advice to the Prime Minister's office on this case. "Our contact tracing team did an initial round of contact tracing, asking questions of this person, on Wednesday night and they gave a considerable amount of information," Dr Veitch said. "At that time, we counted back from the time their symptoms appeared to have started and we declared [the risk period]. "We did learn subsequent to that that they had worked before that period that we thought was the risk period. "So we went back - this is what we do if we get new information - and we identified that this person may have had some symptoms that started a little earlier in April than we initially anticipated so we threw the net wider over the time where they may have posed a risk while working." Dr Veitch said health authorities take information on face value when it is given to them. "We recognise anyone giving information under pressure may omit information or get things wrong," he said. "We are always willing to go back and check we've got the right story."

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