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Six historical cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in New Zealand today, all linked to Waikato, meaning that the first confirmed case of Covid-19 coronavirus in the country dates back to earlier than previously reported.
The historical cases include one confirmed case and five probable cases, none of which pose a risk to the population, the Health Ministry said this afternoon.
The infection occurred at the end of February after the exposure of an infected person, a family member, who was visiting the country from Italy.
During his stay, the family member became ill with symptoms compatible with Covid-19, after which the family as a whole became ill as well.
Pathogenic viruses that cause infection in the host organism (stock image) Source: istock.com
The confirmed case began showing symptoms of Covid-19 upon arrival in the country on February 21, a week before the first confirmed case was reported, a person in his 60s who had recently returned from Iran, on February 28. .
The other domestic cases would represent the first locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, given the onset of symptoms as of February 29 for the confirmed case.
The household had not been evaluated because it did not meet the case definition for the test at that time, which were people with defined symptoms who had traveled or transited China. Italy had not been identified at the time as a country of concern.
Today’s confirmed landmark case, a man, requested testing after he had recently developed a sore throat. The weak positive result, combined with the serological test results and the case history, is consistent with an old infection, the Ministry of Health said.
Only today’s case will be counted as a confirmed case at this stage after a weak positive PCR test result. The other members of the family will be registered as probable cases.
Further investigation into the historical cases will continue.
The man’s close contacts during his recent mild illness have been evaluated as a precaution and have been negative.
It is known that some people can test positive for PCR long after they have recovered from the disease and are no longer infectious.
