No new cases of COVID-19
There are no new cases of COVID-19 today.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) have given an update on the case reported over the weekend – the man who is a recent returnee from India who completed his stay in managed isolation and has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
The MOH have commended him and his family for the steps they have taken after the man became unwell following his departure from managed isolation.
After completing the 14 days in managed isolation, and returning two negative tests, the man remained alert to his health. He immediately self-isolated, sought advice and got a test and the whole family self-isolated when he became unwell. All indications are, this action has prevented the virus from spreading further in this instance.
Due to these actions the MoH have been able to rapidly identify, isolate, and test their close contacts. The two new cases announced yesterday were family members of the first case announced, and they had been in isolation since the first case developed symptoms.
Three neighbours who have been identified as close contacts have all returned negative tests and remain in self-isolation.
The passengers from the charter flight from Christchurch to Auckland are being contacted and assessed.
The people from the first nine rows who sat near the case have been asked to self-isolate and have been tested.
How the man became infected are still under investigation.
Possibilities include:
He could have been infected in India before departing and had a very long and unusual period of incubating the virus – that is rare but it can happen.
He could have been infected on the flight on the way over to New Zealand – there have been eight other cases confirmed from that flight. Genomic sequencing has already linked this case to two other cases from that flight. We are still waiting for genomic testing for two other cases and the other four cases have been effectively been ruled out as a possible source of his infection.
Other possible scenarios are that he could have been infected in the managed isolation facility in Christchurch, and a review of CCTV footage from the facility is already underway.
Or he could have been infected on the charter flight with the other people who had left MIQ and were returning to Auckland.
MoH aren’t ruling out any possibilities and are working to get to the bottom of this case.
There are 40 people isolating in the Auckland quarantine facility from the community, which includes 17 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts.
Three people are in hospital with COVID-19 – one each at Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore hospitals. All three patients are in isolation on a general ward.
Since August 12, MoH contact tracing team has identified 3,989 close contacts of cases, of which 3,978 have been contacted and are self-isolating.
There are nine previously reported cases that are now considered to have recovered from COVID-19.
The total number of active cases is 62 - of those, 29 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and 33 are community cases.
The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 remains at 1,464.
3,568 COVID-19 tests were processed yesterday.
