Covid-19: Nine new cases in managed isolation

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There have been nine new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand's managed isolation facilities today, with the new imported cases coming from all over the world.

In a statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Health say there had been no further community transmission.

The Ministry also say the varied origins of the new cases was a "clear reminder that mandatory isolation and testing will continue to be of critical importance as high numbers of New Zealanders return home before the holiday period".

The nine new cases include:

  • One person arrived from France on November 17 and tested positive at around day three.
  • One person arrived from the Netherlands on November 17 and tested positive at around day three.
  • One person arrived from Dubai on November 17 and tested positive at around day three.
  • One person arrived from the United States on November 19 and tested positive at around day three.
  • One person arrived from the United Kingdom on November 14 and tested positive following routine surveillance at around day seven.
  • Two people, who were travelling separately, arrived on the same flight from Bangladesh on 10 November and tested positive at around day 12.
  • One person arrived from Spain on November 16 and tested positive at around day three.
  • One person arrived from Italy on November 16 and tested positive at around day three.

All nine are now in quarantine.

'The varied origins of these cases is a clear reminder that as COVID-19 continues to batter countries and jurisdictions around the globe, mandatory isolation and testing will continue to be of critical importance as high numbers of New Zealanders return home before the holiday period,” says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

'The Ministry of Health again wants to thank all staff at the managed isolation and quarantine facilities for their efforts in keeping New Zealand safe.”

There were five new imported cases in New Zealand yesterday, with a border worker already in quarantine for the past two weeks also testing positive.

The Ministry has also confirmed today that genome sequencing of the border worker case reported yesterday had directly linked that case to the November quarantine cluster. Yesterday's case has been has been isolating since November 7 as a close contact of previous case.

There are now 50 active cases of the coronavirus in New Zealand and the total number of confirmed cases is now 1672.

New Zealand's laboratories processed 6504 tests for Covid-19 yesterday, the Ministry said.

"This continued strong level of testing as well as the prompt identification, tracing, testing and isolation of close contacts provides continued reassurance that this cluster is contained at this stage."

The Ministry continues to encourage anyone who visited a location of interest during the relevant time period for the November cluster to get tested, to ensure they can quickly identify anyone who may have been infected.

'As part of this enhanced surveillance we continue to have two pop up testing facilities in central and east Auckland today. Both locations are walk-in and don't require a pre-booked appointment.”

The central Auckland pop-up testing location is on High Street close to a number of the Locations of interest. The east Auckland location is at 292A Botany Road (Spectrum House). These and other testing locations are available on the ARPHS website.

'We have the best chance of staying ahead of COVID-19 if everyone who becomes unwell with cold or flu like symptoms stays at home and seeks a test quickly, and all New Zealanders are keeping track of where they've been and who they've seen.”

NZ COVID Tracer app

NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,377,600 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 122,763,982 and users have created 5,031,296 manual diary entries.

Please continue to use the app to scan into locations displaying a QR code – you never know when you will need to call on your contact tracing diary. The more every person scans, the safer we will all be.

If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre

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