19 New Cases Of COVID-19 In Managed Isolation In 3 Days
There are 19 cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation to report in New Zealand since our last media statement on 31 December 2020.
There are no new cases in the community.
Of the new border cases:
· One is
historical. This person arrived on 19 December from the
United States via Australia. This person tested positive at
routine testing around day 12 and is staying in quarantine
in a facility in Hamilton.
· One case arrived on
20 December from India via the United Arab Emirates and
Malaysia. This person tested positive at routine testing
around day 12 and has been transferred to the Auckland
quarantine facility.
· One case arrived on 23
December from the United Kingdom via Singapore. This person
tested positive following the onset of symptoms on day 8 and
has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine
facility.
· One case arrived on 24 Dec from India
via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. This person
tested positive around day 6 and has been transferred to the
Auckland quarantine facility.
· One case arrived
27 December from United Kingdom via United Arab Emirates and
Malaysia. This person tested positive during routine testing
around day 3 and has been transferred to the Auckland
quarantine facility.
· One case arrived on 28
December from the United States. This person tested positive
during routine testing around day 3 and has been transferred
to the Auckland quarantine facility.
· One case
arrived 29 December from United Kingdom via United Arab
Emirates. This person tested positive following the onset of
symptoms on day 2 and has been transferred to the Auckland
quarantine facility.
· One case arrived 29
December from United Kingdom via United Arab Emirates and
Malaysia. This person tested positive during routine testing
around day 3 and has been transferred to the Auckland
quarantine facility.
· One case arrived 29
December from the United Kingdom and tested positive during
routine testing around day three. They were transferred to
the Auckland quarantine facility.
· One case
arrived 29 December from Denmark via United Arab Emirates
and Malaysia. This person tested positive following the
onset of symptoms on day 1 and is in the Auckland quarantine
facility.
· Two cases, travelling together,
arrived on 29 December from the United Kingdom via Qatar.
They tested positive during routine testing around day 3 and
were transferred to the Auckland quarantine
facility.
· Four cases, travelling separately,
arrived on 29 December from the United Kingdom via United
Arab Emirates. They tested positive during routine testing
around day 3 and were transferred to the Auckland quarantine
facility.
· One case arrived on 29 December from
the Seychelles via United Arab Emirates. They tested
positive during routine testing around day 3 and were
transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
·
One case arrived on 29 December from South Africa via
Singapore. They tested positive during routine testing
around day 3 and were transferred to the Auckland quarantine
facility.
· One case arrived on 31 December from
the United States. This person tested positive on day 0/1 of
routine testing and is in a Christchurch quarantine
facility.
Two previously reported cases have now
recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand
is 72. Our total number of confirmed cases is
1,825.
The total number of tests processed by
laboratories to date to 1,414,422.
UK variant
detected
The Ministry of Health can
confirm that six positive cases of COVID-19 have been found
to match the recently identified UK variant of COVID-19
known as 20B/501Y.V1 (Lineage B.1.1.7).
All positive COVID-19 tests in New Zealand are sent to ESR for whole genome sequencing as part of our overall elimination strategy. As part of routine sequencing of these particular cases, matches to the UK variant were confirmed.
The six cases, five of whom travelled from the United Kingdom and one who travelled from South Africa, arrived into New Zealand between 13 and 25 December and underwent routine testing in managed isolation as part of routine surveillance testing or because they developed symptoms. Once confirmed positive they were transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
Four of these cases are now recovered and, after a final health check, were able to leave the facility.
The cases are all cared for with the same high level of infection prevention measures as all COVID-19 positive cases, with daily health checks and use of PPE. Infection prevention control protocols are in place for all staff and we can assure the public that there is no increased risk to the community.
The UK variant is more transmissible than other variants of the virus but there is no evidence at this stage that the length of the infection period is any different to any other variant of COVID-19, nor is it more likely to produce severe illness.
All cases detected in managed isolation must meet the recovered case definition before being allowed to leave the facility as assessed by the medical team. This includes a period of at least 72 hours without any symptoms and a minimum of 10 days since symptom onset or a positive test.
New testing for high risk countries now
in place
New requirements for people
arriving from the United Kingdom and United States came into
effect as of 11:59pm on 31 December 2020. Anyone arriving
into New Zealand from the United Kingdom or United States
are required to: have a COVID-19 test on day 0, i.e. within
24 hours of arriving into managed isolation and stay in
their rooms until a test result is available.
If
they are symptomatic on arrival, they will go straight to a
quarantine facility.
In addition to this, as
announced by the Minister for COVID-19 Response today, from
15 January, travellers from the United Stated and the United
Kingdom will be required to get a negative test result for
COVID-19 before departing for New Zealand.
The
Ministry of Health continues to monitor overseas
developments very closely through the holiday period. The
added day 0/1 testing and pre-departure COVID-19 test for
travellers from these countries are extra precautionary
steps which provide another layer of protection for New
Zealand from COVID-19.
NZ COVID
Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,427,300
registered users.
Poster scans have reached
147,185,025 and users have created 5,937,951 manual diary
entries.
The Ministry would like to remind all New
Zealanders to keep each other safe and use the Covid Tracer
app to scan QR codes and turn on Bluetooth
functionality.
This will allow you to receive an
alert if you have been near another app user who tests
positive for COVID-19. Find out more here.
The
Ministry’s next update is planned for 1pm on Tuesday 5
January.