Covid 19 coronavirus: Chapel Downs school staff urged students to get tested after 10-year-old girl tested positive

Health officials are urging staff and students at an Auckland primary school to get tested for Covid-19 after a 10-year-old female student was confirmed to be infectious.

It comes when seven new cases of the virus were announced yesterday, bringing the total number of active cases to 77.

And New Zealand officially entered its first recession in 11 years, a victim of the fallout from Covid hitting economies around the world.

Chapel Downs School in Flat Bush announced yesterday that it will close its doors until at least next Monday for a deep cleaning after the student tested positive for the virus. It is understood to be related to the botany subgroup in Auckland.

A pop-up Covid testing site will be established at the school.

The student and three close contacts were at the school for the last time on Monday.

The four young men were only at Flat Bush School for 30 minutes before being picked up at 9 am.

“The child tested positive for the virus later that day,” the publication said.

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service was working to identify any close contacts (any student and staff member who may have been closer than 2m to the student for more than 15 minutes) from the four students.

Parents were asked to keep their children at home until ARPHS contacted them. Staff had also been advised not to attend school.

Principal Vaughan van Rensburg said public health officials informed the school of the case at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“The community has been very supportive and we look forward to seeing the children back in school,” he said.

Parents were urged to remain vigilant for symptoms of Covid-19 in their children, including a new or worsening cough, sore throat, runny nose or fever.

“Lastly, if you know the identity of the student or family with Covid-19, please do not reveal their names or details to anyone else and discourage your children from speculating or identifying them on social media,” the parents were told.

“This can lead to harassment and abuse online.”

On Monday, the Health Ministry confirmed that there was a community case to report: a girl who was epidemiologically linked to an existing case associated with the Botany subgroup.

That subgroup, now made up of six people, is genomically linked to the broader August Auckland group.

Health officials said the girl had been in isolation that day since Aug. 30, as she was a family contact for a previously confirmed case.

Man escapes from Rotorua quarantine

Meanwhile, security has been tightened at a managed isolation hotel in Rotorua after a man escaped through a fenced-in area Wednesday night.

The man was missing for half an hour from the Sudima Rotorua hotel, prompting a search by New Zealand Defense Force personnel.

Police were investigating and verifying CCTV security footage to establish where the man went during that time.

“However, there are indications that it did not move beyond the immediate area,” Chief of Managed Isolation and Quarantine, Air Commodore Darryn Webb, said yesterday.

New cases

The seven new Covid-19 cases announced yesterday were identified as in isolation administered in Auckland when they were tested.

The Health Ministry said that with the exception of one arrival from Uzbekistan, all new cases were detected as a result of the third-day tests and were now in quarantine.

New cases in managed isolation include:

• A woman in her 30s who arrived from the United States on September 12 and is in administered isolation in Wellington.

• A man in his 60s who arrived from India on 12 September and is in managed isolation in Auckland.

• A man in his 30s who arrived from India on 12 September and is in managed isolation in Auckland.

• A woman in her 20s who arrived from India on 12 September and is in managed isolation in Auckland.

• A man in his 40s who arrived from Indonesia on 12 September and is in controlled isolation in Christchurch.

• A boy aged 1 to 4 who arrived from India on 12 September and is in managed isolation in Auckland.

• A woman in her 50s who arrived from Uzbekistan on September 14. They tested her in Auckland after looking symptomatic.

Yesterday no new community cases were announced. Four people were in the hospital but no one in the ICU.

There were 54 people linked to the community group who remained in the Auckland quarantine facility.

That included 23 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.

Combining yesterday’s new cases with nine additional recovered cases, New Zealand’s total number of active cases is 77.

When asked yesterday about the Covid figures, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it showed that “we are on the right track, our plan is working.”

On Wednesday, the labs processed 8185 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 889,717, the ministry spokesman said.

There are now 2,228,300 registered users on NZ Covid Tracer.