The country is set to find out if a Covid-infected Auckland family that got together with five other families have sparked a new wave of community spread. Photo / Greg Bowker
The country is set to find out if a Covid-infected Auckland family that got together with five other families have sparked a new wave of community spread. Photo / Greg Bowker
There are two new cases of Covid-19 - one in the community.
One case is from overseas and tested positive in managed isolation.
The community case is a woman in her late teens who was already self-isolating. She is a household contact, epidemiologically linked to the Auckland August cluster bereavement sub-group from Mt Roskill.
The imported case is a man in his 40s who returned from Russia on a flight via Turkey and Malaysia on 19 September. He returned a positive result to day 3 testing and is now at the quarantine facility in Auckland.
There are 35 people isolating in the Auckland quarantine facility from the community, which includes 15 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.
Three people are in hospital - one each at Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore hospitals. All three are in isolation on a general ward.
The Ministry of Health has identified 4053 close contacts of cases, of which 4050 have been contacted and are self-isolating or have completed self-isolation.
"We are in the process of contacting the rest," the ministry said in a statement.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 60. Of those, 29 are imported cases in and 31 are in the community.
New Zealand's total number of confirmed cases is 1473. Yesterday laboratories processed 6465 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 937,244.
The ministry said public health services were continuing to contact trace, test and isolate close contacts of the three community cases reported earlier this week after a group of 21 - including three infected people - met up for a holiday in Taupō last weekend.
Two of those had been in managed isolation in Christchurch and returned home on a chartered flight, while the third is a household contact.
The five families who travelled to Taupō came from all corners of New Zealand, including Kawerau, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch.
So far 15 eateries, shops and tourist attractions have been marked by the Health Ministry as locations of interest between Auckland and Tūrangi.
These are:
• McDonald's Frankton, Frankton, Sunday 20 September, 8.20pm-9pm • Subway, Robert St, Taupō, Sunday 20 September, 5pm-5.15pm • KFC Taupō, Robert St, Taupō Sunday 20 September, 5pm-5.15pm • Z Turangi Service Station - Cnr State Highway 1 and Pihanga Road, Turangi Sunday 20 Septembr, 11am-11.12am • Taupō Tandem Skydiving, Taupō Airport, Saturday, 19 September, 2pm-3.15pm. • DeBretts Hotsprings, Taupō, Friday, 18 September, 2.40pm-6.45pm • McDonald's Tokoroa, Tokoroa, Friday 18 September, 9.30am-9.44am • Kmart St Lukes, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday 17 September, 5pm-7.20pm and Monday, 14 September, 6pm-8pm • Farmers St Lukes, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday 17 September, 5pm-7.20pm • Mountain Warehouse, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday 17 September, 5pm-7.20pm • Just Cuts, Westfield St Lukes, Thursday 17 September, 4pm-5pm • Dress Smart Outlet Shopping (Jacqui E, Max, Fila, Puma), Onehunga Auckland, Wednesday 16 September, 2.45pm-5pm • Lotus supermarket, Mt Roskill, Auckland, Saturday 12 September, 7pm-8pm • Briscoes St Lukes, Morningside, Auckland, Saturday 12 September, 4.30pm-6pm • Christchurch Airport - departures, Harewood, Friday 11 September, 9.30am-1.30pm
There are 35 close contacts associated with these cases, the ministry said. Eight have returned negative test results and the remaining have been or are in the process of being tested. All are now self-isolating.
Public health services in the relevant regions have been in contact with businesses where individuals may have visited while infectious and will be issuing information to the public as appropriate.
The cluster started with a man in his 40s who was twice tested negative but found to have the infection when he returned to Auckland after spending 14 days in a Christchurch managed isolation facility.
At this stage it is believed he contracted the virus after a rare 21-day incubation period.
Today epidemiologist Professor Sir David Skegg said the newest cluster had the potential to be very serious.
"This is just a reminder that elimination is a process, not a destination.
"This will keep happening and it's essential we can keep on top of the cases."
Covid-19 modeller Shaun Hendy said the advice on isolation duration needed to be adjusted as more was learned about the disease and its possible incubation period.
"There should be some concern about this latest case and I think particularly because it is distributed across the country, it's not confined to one part of the country."
Yesterday there were three new cases of Covid in New Zealand. All were recently returned Kiwis in managed isolation facilities.
Meanwhile, the Auckland August cluster which hasn't seen any new cases in more than a week, remains at 178.
