The Kingswood Manor Motel in Kamo is the latest place of interest. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The Kingswood Manor Motel in Kamo is the latest place of interest. Photo / Michael Cunningham
No cases of Covid-19 have been detected in Northland yet, the Ministry of Health reported today.
This comes after a new location of interest, the Kingswood Manor Motel in Kamo, was named earlier today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will hold a press conference at 4pm to announce the Cabinet's decision on alert levels.
According to the ministry, the Auckland woman who crossed the Northland border with her companion using forged papers and was later tested positive for Covid-19, stayed in the motel on Sunday, October 3, from 9pm-11.59pm.
Meanwhile, whole genome sequencing has been completed on the initial sample, confirming the case is linked to the Auckland outbreak.
Due to sample quality limitations, it could not link the case to a specific cluster, however resampling has been undertaken and Institute of Environmental Science and Research are working to improve the data quality of additional sequencing.
The case remains in an Auckland quarantine facility.
The second person who is thought to have travelled with this case has been contacted but not yet located.
There are currently 21 close contacts associated with this case, including the household of the woman and her travel companion.
Outside of Northland, there are 35 new community cases today – all are in the Auckland region.
Of these cases, 14 have known links to existing cases and 21 remain under investigation.
The Ministry of Health is asking anyone in Northland to remain vigilant for symptoms.
People who have visited a location of interest or been in an area of interest at the times specified should get tested and isolate until they receive the result.
Northland health officials are pleased with the weekend's testing numbers, with 738 tests carried out yesterday. Over the past four days, nearly 3000 tests have been undertaken.
Today there are five testing sites available across the region:
Whangārei – Rock and Roll car park, Pohe Island (9am–4pm); Kamo, 20 Winger Crescent (9am –4pm) Dargaville – Dargaville Hospital (9am-4pm) Kerikeri – 1 Sammaree Place (9am-4pm) Kaitaia – Kaitaia Hospital, 29 Redan Road (9am-4pm)
Northland DHB, local iwi and providers are also working hard to ensure as many Northlanders are vaccinated as possible.
Four clinics are open for vaccinations today at Kaitaia, Whangārei, Dargaville, and Kerikeri.
Kaitaia – The Old Warehouse Building, 11 Matthews Ave (10am-5pm) Whangārei – Northland Events Centre (10am-5pm) Dargaville - 22a Normanby St (11am-6pm) Kerikeri – 1 Sammaree Place (9am-4pm)
