No New Community Cases; No New Cases Of COVID-19 In Managed Isolation; 2 Million Tests Processed

There are no new cases in the community to report today.

There are also no new positive cases of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation since yesterday.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is one.

No previously reported cases have recovered.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 33.

Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,245.

Since 1 January 2021, there have been 49 historical cases, out of a total of 429 cases.

Testing information
New Zealand has now completed two million tests for COVID-19.

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,000,842.

The very first COVID-19 test was carried out on 7 February last year and we reached the one million tests mark last October.

Since 7 February, a total of 1,212,328 people have been tested – meaning nearly a quarter (244 out of 1000) of all New Zealanders have been tested.

The highest number of tests completed in a single day was 25,007, during the Auckland August cluster.

On Saturday, 3,620 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4,029 tests processed.

Testing has and continues to be a core part of our elimination strategy for COVID-19 and is in addition to the current public health measures being practised at the border such as physical distancing, basic hygiene measures, and appropriate PPE use.

The vaccination roll-out is another key measure New Zealand is using to reduce the spread of infection.

To everyone who has played their part, whether at the frontline or providing necessary support, we thank you for your contribution and the huge difference you’ve made to our response. New Zealand’s response owes a debt of gratitude to our laboratory workers and all other supporting workers who have made this happen.

We would also like to thank all New Zealanders who have been tested, including our frontline workers who are regularly re-tested.

For all testing locations nationwide visit theHealthpointwebsite.

Response to Perth lockdown
Quarantine-free travel between Western Australia and New Zealand remains paused after Perth and the outer-metropolitan area of Peel were placed in athree-day COVID-19 lockdown at 12:01am on Saturday 24 April (Western Australia time).

New Zealanders in Australia are asked to follow local guidance and check for places of interest outside of Western Australia.

Passengers flying to New Zealand from other Australian states will be required to complete pre-departure and arrival declarations advising whether they have been in Perth or Peel since 17 April, and whether they have visited any of the current locations of interest.

Yesterday 1000 passengers who arrived in New Zealand on direct flights from Perth on 19, 21 and 23 April were being contacted and provided with advice.

Of those, two people from the same household have let health authorities know they were in the Perth domestic terminal at the time specified in the locations of interest page.

They are being treated as casual contacts and have both had their tests today, with results due this week. The risk to the public has been assessed again to be very low. They remain in isolation until their test results come back.

New Zealand health officials remain in contact with their Australian counterparts and are closely monitoring the situation. The current risk to New Zealand has been assessed as low. Updates will be provided if there are any changes to the current risk assessment or advice.

Information for anyone who is in New Zealand and has been in Perth or Peel since 17 April is on thelocations of interest pageon the Ministry of Healthwebsite,and on the Western AustraliaDepartment of Health siteLocations visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases (healthywa.wa.gov.au)

If you have been to a location of interest you should stay at home, or in your accommodation, get a test, and contact Healthline 0800 358 5453.

All people who have been in Perth or Peel since 17 April should watch for symptoms and if symptoms develop they should stay home and get a test.

As per our framework travel to the rest of Australia will continue. If you're booked to travel between New Zealand and Western Australia in the next few days, check what you need to do with your airline.

April airport case update 
The number of close and close plus contacts of the border worker who tested positive on Tuesday has increased to 39.

All 39 close contacts of this case have been contacted and are self-isolating.

Of those 39 close contacts, 34 have returned negative tests to date with results still to come on the remainder.

Public health officials are in daily communication with all contacts to monitor their health and confirm any upcoming testing dates.

NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,796,868 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 255,551,347 and users have created 9,558,417 manual diary entries.

There have been 793,998 scans in the last 24 hours to midday yesterday.

It’s incredibly important that people keep a record of where they’ve been, especially while people are out and about this long weekend.

Scanning in can help support contact tracers in tracing potential close and casual contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The use of the app – through QR code scanning, recording manual diary entries, and Bluetooth – is just one of the tools available to support contact tracing. It’s not the only one. It’s important the COVID Tracer app is viewed in the wider context of New Zealand’s elimination strategy.

Next update
The Ministry’s next update is planned for 1pm Tuesday 27 April.

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