Eighteen new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation
There are 18 new cases of Covid-19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand since Wednesday. Two of these cases are classified as historical and deemed not infectious.
There are no new cases in the community.
One case from South Africa has tested positive on day 18, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. That person was in a travel bubble of a previously confirmed case reported on December 31.
The traveller arrived from South Africa via the United Arab Emirates on December 26 and has been in Auckland's Jet Park quarantine facility since the contact case was first detected.
The other cases come from all over the world including the US, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
Four cases have now recovered, bringing the total number of active cases in New Zealand to 76, while the total number of confirmed cases is 1,890.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,457,076.
On Wednesday 4,519 tests were processed and yesterday there were 4,358 tests processed.
The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 3,653 tests processed.
Over the summer break, the Ministry of Health continues to encourage people with any Covid-19 symptoms to get assessed for testing by contacting their doctor or calling Healthline. Healthline is free and available 24/7. Medical professionals are best placed to assess whether a test is needed.
New pre-departure testing requirement
From 11.59pm tonight, travellers from the United States and United Kingdom will be required to produce a negative test result for Covid-19 upon landing in New Zealand. Travellers will be required to provide evidence of their pre-departure test result as they go through Customs.
This measure is in addition to travellers arriving from the United States and the United Kingdom requiring a Covid-19 test on day 0/1 and needing to stay in their rooms until a test result is available, i.e. testing within 24 hours of arriving into managed isolation.
Pre-departure testing will soon be expanded to include all countries excluding Australia, Antarctica and some Pacific Island nations. These additional requirements have been put in place to further strengthen our border, to protect New Zealand from Covid-19 and new emerging variants.
