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At least five of the people who tested positive for Covid-19 in administered isolation on Tuesday tested negative before boarding their flight from New Zealand.
The five people traveled from India through Fiji, landing in Christchurch on August 27. This included a man in his 20s, a woman in his 30s, two women in his 20s, and a man in his 40s.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry announced that 14 more people had tested positive for coronavirus, bringing New Zealand’s case count to more than 1,400. Five of the latest infections occurred in the community, while nine were found in Managed isolation or quarantine facilities (MIQ).
Rohit Sharma, who was on the same flight as five of the new “imported” cases detected in Christchurch, told RNZ on Wednesday that all the passengers were quarantined at a hotel in New Delhi designated by the Fiji High Commission before the flight.
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All passengers who arrived in Christchurch last week on a flight from India via Fiji were quarantined and screened for Covid-19 before they could board the flight. (File photo)
On the third day of the quarantine, everyone had to undergo a Covid-19 test and only passengers with negative results were able to board the aircraft.
Sharma, who was traveling with his wife, showed no detectable signs of the virus. He has tested negative since arriving in New Zealand.
He told RNZ that he had been in India for more than five months before traveling back to New Zealand.
It was a surprise to him when he learned that five people who had been on the flight tested positive for coronavirus after landing in Christchurch, as people who tested positive while in quarantine were unable to board the flight.
JOSEPH JOHNSON / Things
A Covid-19 quarantine facility at the Distinction Christchurch hotel in the city center.
“We can’t say where [they might have contracted the virus]. It’s a complicated situation, ”Sharma said.
“[We] He passed through the New Delhi airport. There were several flights at that time and [many] people there. Even though it was social distancing and everyone had a mask, we still can’t say where they got this virus. “
He said that in Fiji they changed planes and some passengers used the restrooms at the airport. They may have been infected with the virus at the Fiji airport, Sharma said.
The World Health Organization has said that the incubation period for Covid-19 is on average five to six days, but it can be up to 14 days.
While the virus is more likely to be spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, and talks, infection by touching surfaces is still a possibility.
Studies have shown that Covid-19 can survive up to 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel, less than four hours on copper, and less than 24 hours on cardboard.
Other cases identified Tuesday in managed quarantine included two women in Auckland who traveled from India on August 23, as well as a woman in her 50s who arrived on August 26 from Qatar.
Another case in Wellington, a man in his 50s who returned from the US on August 18, tested positive on the 12th day of his stay in isolation.
The five new community cases announced Tuesday have been epidemiologically linked to the largest group in New Zealand. Two of the individuals are household contacts of previously reported cases, while the remaining three are in a household linked to an existing case.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Zealand is now 1401, of which 132 are “active.”
