One case of COVID-19 in managed isolation and one historical case
There is one new COVID-19 case to report in managed isolation and one historical case - this case has recovered.
The positive case arrived in the country from India on March 23 and is currently staying in a managed isolation facility in Auckland.
Today's historical case arrived in the country from India on February 28 and had been previously reported as ‘under investigation.’ This person returned negative test results while in managed isolation, before returning a positive test result with a high Ct value as part of a requirement for employment.
Subsequent investigation, including serology testing has determined this to be a historical case. Historical cases are not considered to be infectious.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 74 and the total number of confirmed cases is 2,125.
Since January 1 2021, there have been 42 historical cases, out of a total of 313 cases.
On Friday, 4,846 tests were processed. 34,303 tests have been processed in the last week, with a seven-day rolling average up to yesterday of 4,900 tests processed.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,880,007.
For up-to-date information on all testing locations nationwide is available on the Healthpoint website https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.
Grand Mercure managed isolation facility Auckland
As part of investigations into a recent ‘day 12’ case at the Grand Mercure managed isolation facility, health officials are continuing to look at the possibility of a transmission within this facility.
Contact tracing teams are contacting the returnees who have left the facility since March 10. There are 258 returnees who departed the facility between 10 March and 25 March. Health officials are asking them to get tested immediately and remain at home until they have had a negative test result returned.
As at 9am this morning, 233 of those 258 people have been contacted and the remaining people are being followed up. If you are one of these people, please get in touch with Healthline. So far 95 have returned negative test results and we will continue to report test results when they're available.
Grand Millennium managed isolation facility Auckland
The investigation into how a cleaner at the Grand Millennium, referred to as Case A, was exposed to COVID-19 is continuing.
All close and casual contacts of Case A have returned negative initial tests. Further test results are expected in the coming days.
Canterbury DHB software coding error impacts local vaccination booking system
Canterbury DHB is apologising for a coding error in the software used in a local Canterbury medical appointment system which potentially allowed those invited to make appointments to view details about other individuals also making appointments.
"All health services take the privacy of individuals very seriously," says Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
"It is very unfortunate this has occurred and the Ministry and DHB have taken immediate steps to address the issue.
"The DHB will be contacting those affected, apologising directly and informing them of the actions now being taken."
While no private health information was available through the appointment system, the system was taken down last night after being available for use from 8am on Friday.
An investigation is now underway which will provide more detailed information.
At this stage, the issue is limited to Canterbury DHB and to household members of frontline border workers invited to make appointments to be vaccinated.
Both the Ministry and DHB are thanking a member of the public with strong technical skills for the prompt alert after they detected a security vulnerability in the code and then were able to view contact details of those who had already booked.
At this stage, there is no evidence of any malicious breach, access to this information or sharing of it further and the DHB is investigating further.
The system will stay shut down till the issue is rectified and the system thoroughly tested.
Early information is that the coding error meant that details of 716 individuals who had registered were potentially able to be viewed.
The details included name, gender, age, and NHI number but no personal health information.
Individuals with questions or concerns about the booking system coding error should in the first instance ring Healthline on 0800 358 5453
A national booking system is currently being developed and will be available in May.
