25 New Cases Of COVID-19
There are 25 new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today – 23 of these are imported cases caught at the border. Two are cases linked to the port worker reported on Sunday, who are workplace contacts.
Workplace cases
The
first case we are reporting today was previously considered
a casual contact of the port worker reported on Sunday. The
person had a very short exposure on Friday to the case
announced on Sunday and they were tested on Sunday with a
negative result. The new case today became symptomatic
yesterday and was tested and returned a positive result.
Their household contact is now also being tested.
The
second case has come into our database after 9am and will
therefore be reflected in tomorrow’s official numbers, but
we are reporting it today because of the significant public
interest.
This person is the previously reported
workplace close contact of the port worker reported on
Sunday. They have been in the Auckland quarantine facility
since Sunday October 18 and have previously been swabbed
five times for COVID-19 as part of routine port surveillance
testing - including last Friday, when they returned a
negative test result. They developed symptoms yesterday
while at the quarantine facility, was swabbed again
yesterday, and returned a positive result after 9am this
morning. Their household contacts had already been tested
with negative results and will now remain in self-isolation
for the full 14-day period.
Detailed interviews and
contact tracing are underway for these people, and we are
taking a very precautionary approach to managing these
cases.
Infection via the Sofrana Surville continues to be
the most likely hypothesis but we are also revisiting this
theory in light of these new cases.
The Sofrana Surville
arrived in Brisbane yesterday and Australian authorities
will undertake testing and will communicate the results from
the 19 crew members to us when they are
available.
Cases in Christchurch’s
Sudima
Eighteen imported cases are in managed
isolation at the Sudima in Christchurch. They arrived from
Moscow via Singapore on a chartered flight on 16
October.
In order to help manage any risks, the 235
people who arrived on this flight were all taken to the same
facility, and the majority of them were sharing a room with
another person.
Positive cases have been moved into the
dedicated quarantine wing at the facility and all occupants
of the hotel will be retested on day 6 of their stay.
All
staff at this facility have also been tested over the last
three days
Testing will also be made available to family
members of staff from the managed isolation facility, and
staff numbers are being increased at the site.
People
working at the airport when these travellers arrived are
being asked to be tested if they haven’t already been
tested in the last two days, and the bus company will be
testing its drivers.
Other imported
cases
In addition, there are three unrelated
imported cases who arrived from London via Singapore on
October 16th and tested positive at routine day 3 testing in
managed isolation in Christchurch.
A further two imported
cases are people in MIQ in Auckland. The first person
arrived on October 16 from Jordan via Dubai and Kuala Lumpur
and tested positive at routine day 3 testing. The second
person arrived on October 17 from Malaysia and also tested
positive at routine day 3 testing.
In summary, we have a
large number of cases today. Two are close contacts
associated with our community case, and all appropriate
precautions around this have been put in place.
The
others are part of a well-established managed isolation and
border management system that was set up to do exactly what
it is doing – that’s finding and isolating imported
cases at the border.
Numbers
Two
previously reported cases are now considered to have
recovered, bringing our total number of active cases to
56.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now
1,556.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 6,308 tests
for COVID-19, bringing our total number of tests completed
to date to 1,040,911.
It remains critically important
that anyone who develops symptoms consistent with COVID-19
immediately seeks advice from their health care provider or
Healthline.
Getting a test for COVID-19 quickly allows us
to rapidly identify and isolate any cases of the virus and
limits its ability to spread. Please remain vigilant and get
a test if you have any symptoms.
NZ COVID
Tracer
Please also keep a record of where you
have been and who you have seen. For contact tracing to be
most effective, we all need to remember where we were not
just yesterday but two weeks ago or even longer. This is
because by the time someone starts showing COVID-19
symptoms, they could have passed the virus on to others in
the community.
The easiest way to keep track of where
we’ve been is with the NZ COVID Tracer app. This helps
contact tracing go faster whenever it’s needed so we can
quickly break the chain of transmission and minimise the
likelihood and extent of any further lockdowns.
There are
now 2,311,700 users registered on NZ COVID Tracer.
The
app has recorded a total of 95,433,191 poster scans, and
users have created 3,985,810 manual diary
entries.