More than 436,223 Covid-19 swabs have been done in New Zealand since January. Photo / Peter Meecham
More than 436,223 Covid-19 swabs have been done in New Zealand since January. Photo / Peter Meecham
There is one new Covid-19 case today - a man in his 30s who arrived in New Zealand on July 10 from Pakistan via Dubai.
He is in quarantine at the Sudima Hotel in Rotorua.
The Ministry of Health also revealed seven people previously reported as having Covid-19 are now considered to have recovered, meaning the number of active cases in New Zealand is now 21.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is now 1199, which is the number reported to the World Health Organisation.
There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for Covid-19.
Laboratories completed 2497 tests yesterday, 528 of which were taken at managed isolation or quarantine facilities.
The total number of tests completed in New Zealand to date is 438,720.
The Ministry of Health also said the clinical criteria for recovery from Covid-19 in New Zealand have now changed following a review, which includes ensuring alignment with its Australian counterparts.
"The strict criteria applied before an individual with Covid-19 is regarded as recovered and able to be released from quarantine or isolation are that it must be at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms or positive test if the person was asymptomatic, and at least 48 hours without symptoms," it said in a statement.
"The 48 hours will now increase to 72 hours as an extra precaution."
It said a review confirmed that the virus can persist in cases of people who have recovered but are no longer infectious.
"This is why testing is not routinely done in New Zealand or Australia to determine recovery, although it may be done if clinically indicated.
"The director-general talked yesterday about a recent case where an individual who had been assessed as recovered and then received subsequent medical treatment in Middlemore hospital for an underlying health condition and returned a positive result for Covid-19 as part of their hospital care.
"As a result of that positive test result, the individual was returned to the quarantine facility in Auckland and reassessed by the clinician in charge. Their clinical view was that the positive test was a result of residual virus; the symptoms were related to an underlying condition and the individual had recovered and was confirmed as low risk.
"We would expect from time to time other instances where this happens and will continue to be guided by clinicians' judgement in application of the guidelines."
The New Zealand Covid Tracer app has also now got 611,500 registered users.
A total 79,492 posters featuring QR codes have been created to date, with 1.458 million scans being completed.
"We continue to encourage all New Zealanders to keep a record of where they have been – particularly by scanning QR codes through the app," the ministry said.
It's been 76 days since the last case of community transmission, with the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announcing there is no evidence of spread in New Zealand
Yesterday there was one new case, that of a child of two people who also tested positive after arriving back to New Zealand from Italy.
The family is in quarantine at the Commodore Hotel in Christchurch.
This week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the next phase in the war against Covid-19 with the "Stamp it out" plan for coming months.
With the virus exploding in countries around the globe, Ardern announced the need to prepare for the eventuality of cases slipping through the border and leading to community transmission in coming months.
Measures included putting regions into different levels of lockdown and taking precautionary steps at the early stages of any outbreak rather than run the risk of doing too little too late.
The Prime Minister announced the country's borders would continue to have strong restrictions on who can enter New Zealand coupled with a mandatory fortnight in managed isolation and weekly testing.
On top of this, community surveillance and testing would continue with those with symptoms, those who work on the border or close contacts of Covid-positive people or those with symptoms and deemed in high-risk health groups a focus of the strategy.
The Government was also focusing on contact tracing and getting the NZ Covid Tracer app into regular use.
The Government was also exploring getting a Bluetooth function to help with contact tracing.
