One new imported case. Daily health checks on ship's crew anchored off Napier
There is one new imported case of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.
There are no new community cases.
Today’s imported case arrived on October 7 from Kenya via Dubai and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Auckland.
They tested positive at routine testing around day 12 of their stay and have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 1,531.
Five previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, bringing the total number of active cases to 33.
There are 30 community close contacts identified in relation to the port worker case, and all of those have been contacted and are self-isolating.
All the test results returned from close and casual contacts of the case announced on Sunday are negative to date.
2,715 tests for COVID-19 were processed yesterday.
Ships - possible sources of Sunday's case
Ken Rei
The Ken Rei remains anchored off Napier. Officials are determining with the ship’s owners the next move for the Ken Rei, in conjunction with public health units and port authorities. Testing arrangements will be made once a decision about future movements has been made.
Minitstry of Health are continuing to conduct daily health checks for all 21 crew members on board. All are currently well and not reporting any symptoms of COVID-19, and have been symptom-free for seven days.
Moana Chief
This is the New Zealand-based ship with the New Zealand-based crew who Ministry of Health plan to test tomorrow. The ministry consider this ship unlikely to be the source of the infection of Sunday’s case. The ship is today moving from Marsden Point to Tauranga, and testing of the crew will take place tomorrow to rule it out as the source of infection.
Sofrana Surville
This is the ship the Ministry of Health suspect as being the source of the infection of Sunday’s case. The ship arrived in Brisbane last night and New Zealand officials are following up with public health officials in Australia on the health of those on board. Australian authorities are conducting testing and serology on all 19 crew members. They will share these results when received and conduct genome sequencing on any positive results that are returned.
The Ministry of Health's investigation into the ship’s activities while in New Zealand has found that there are 11 people who we consider to have had contact with the ship while it was in Auckland. All are being followed up, tested and isolated if appropriate.
Toi Te Ora, the public health unit in the Bay of Plenty, is continuing work to identify people who boarded the ship while it was in Tauranga.
