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David Unwin / Stuff
There are no patients with Covid-19 in Palmerston North Hospital
A woman in her 20s has become the 32nd case of Covid-19 in the MidCentral Health district.
She was one of three new cases of the virus reported by the Ministry of Health on Monday, the day Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand would start moving to level 2 from Thursday.
The ministry said the person had recently traveled back to New Zealand, so it was an imported case.
She is the first case detected in the district for more than three weeks. It comes a week after the last of the previous 31 cases had recovered, meaning there were, temporarily, no active cases.
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A ministry spokesperson said the woman had spent time at the Auckland managed-isolation facility.
She then traveled by private vehicle to self-isolation in a private home in the district.
“We are confident there is no wider public health risk.”
No contact tracing was required because all the people on the same incoming flight had gone into managed isolation once they arrived in New Zealand.
The spokesperson said the woman was being supported and appropriately managed and monitored.
Stuff asked when the person had arrived in New Zealand and whether they had been granted an exemption to travel.
But the ministry did not supply that information and asked that the person’s privacy be respected.
Stuff asked similar questions of the MidCentral District Health Board, which deferred to the ministry.
Last week, MidCentral’s acting chief medical officer Jeff Brown said the lack of active cases in the district had provided confidence that health services could be geared up safely.
The board says on its website that although there can be a lag between confirmation of cases and public notification, that did not create any public health risk.
“Anyone who is tested for Covid-19 goes into immediate self-isolation. Contact tracing starts as soon as test results are received and close contacts are informed and isolated immediately. ”
