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Ardern, who appeared later on the show, said there was “no evidence yet” for that from research by ESR, the Crown Research Institute of New Zealand, which has been performing genome sequencing on coronavirus positive samples.
“We did a test sweep of all those frontline border task forces, all over the port, all of our managed isolation facilities. You know, we also genomized everyone who was in our MIQ to try and find matches there. We didn’t find any. the source, “Ardern told The AM Show.
But when asked later that day if Dr. Bloomfield was wrong in saying the outbreak came from the border, Ardern said that both she and the CEO’s answers were correct.
“In that case, we can both be. We haven’t been able to show through the evidence from all the tests we’ve done where it came from, but ultimately, obviously, it hasn’t come from New Zealand,” Ardern said.
“We know that from the work that ESR has done because of the type we have and we know that from the amount of time and the amount of mutation. We know it comes from somewhere, so technically it must have come from outside.
“What, of course, we have not been able to prove is that it comes from our MIQ or from border workers; that we have not been able to prove.”
Ardern has fiercely defended claims by National Party Leader Judith Collins that the COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland was caused by a “border mishap.”
Collins has suggested that the virus outbreak is linked to the border after Newshub revealed that more than 60 percent of border workers had not been tested in the week before the last outbreak, falling short of the testing strategy approved by the Cabinet. .
Since then, the government has ordered that all personnel in front of the border be tested.
The South Auckland cluster is believed to have originated at Americold’s cold storage facility in Auckland, but the source is still unknown, and Ardern said last month that there are “several ways” the virus could have entered. in New Zealand.
“To date we have not established the source of the cluster, but we are working hard to investigate all possible options,” he said, although Dr. Bloomfield has practically ruled out transmission from cold-stored products.
MIQ Minister in Charge Megan Woods said earlier this month that she had been informed that the COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland was unlikely to come from state facilities.
Dr Woods said that one of the “first jobs we did” after the Auckland outbreak was trying to compare it to positive COVID-19 cases at MIQ facilities.
“None of them really fit the deadlines when we thought the most likely first entry point would have been to fit in with that community group,” he said.
The Ministry of Health reported three new COVID-19 cases in New Zealand on Tuesday, all detected in recent returnees at MIQ facilities.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 83, including 28 at MIQ facilities and 55 in the community, all linked to the Auckland group.
The case of a health worker at the Auckland quarantine facility has been genomically linked to the Auckland group. The case is most closely related to three cases in the group that were isolated at the facility.
Authorities continue to investigate how the infection occurred.
