5 New Imported Cases; No New Community Cases Of COVID-19

There are again no new community cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

There are five new cases from managed isolation.

One other case has now recovered, meaning the total number of active cases is 74.

The five cases today include three additional international mariners in the Sudima Hotel Christchurch Airport, this brings the total number of mariners who have tested positive to 32. The three cases today were tested at day nine as they were part of the group who had previously been in close contact with other confirmed cases. These three are now in quarantine, along with the other mariners who had earlier tested positive.

Of our remaining two positive cases to report today, the first is a family member of a positive case who is a recent returnee and both were already in quarantine in Auckland’s quarantine facility.

The other case is a recent returnee who arrived from Ethiopia via Dubai and tested positive as a result of routine testing around day three. This person has also been transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility.

Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,584.

Yesterday our laboratories completed 3,038 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,070,181.

Testing has continued at a steady level in the Auckland area, with metropolitan DHBs reporting 478 people swabbed at the region's seven community testing centres.

The seven community testing centres remain open today – those are Northcote Community Testing Centre, Northcare Accident and Medical, Whânau House in Henderson, Western Springs Community Testing Centre, the Whânau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri, the Otara Community Testing Centre, and the North Harbour stadium carpark in Albany.

COVID-19 testing is also available across metro Auckland at a number of urgent care clinics and general practices over the long weekend. A reminder that wherever you get swabbed, a COVID-19 test is free of charge.

We want to again thank New Zealanders, especially Aucklanders, who are doing the right things by remaining vigilant, self-isolating and getting tested if they have even the slightest symptoms. Your actions are helping to keep you, your whânau and your communities safe.

Full details of testing availability in Auckland and the testing centre opening hours can be found on the ARPHS website https://www.arphs.health.nz/public-health-topics/covid-19/where-to-get-tested/.

Auckland Maritime Cases

We now have preliminary results of the genome sequencing for the two other Auckland cases linked to the original worker who returned a positive test result after working on the ship the Sofrana Surville. The genome sequencing shows the three workers all have an identical form of the virus – further evidence their infections are from a common source.

Australian authorities are doing genome sequencing on the three crew members of the Sofrana Surville who tested positive on arrival in Brisbane after leaving New Zealand. Those results are pending.

NZ COVID Tracer

There are now 2,327,600 users registered on NZ COVID Tracer.

The app has recorded a total of 99,460,306 poster scans, and users have created a total of 4,182,114 manual diary entries.

The Ministry of Health continues to strongly encourage everyone to scan QR codes where ever they go. The more we scan, the safer we’ll be. More scans facilitate a faster response. The faster we respond, the faster we stop COVID-19.

Wherever you are in New Zealand over coming days, you can call Healthline for advice 24/7 and information on testing locations. Its dedicated COVID-19 number is 0800 358 5453, or you can check with the DHB's website.

We'd also like to extend our thanks to primary care teams, laboratory staff, public health teams, hospital staff, incident management teams, managed isolation and quarantine staff and the other health professionals who are working during this long weekend to support our pandemic response.

© Scoop Media