Covid 19 coronavirus: New Zealand’s first case comes to light

After weeks of Covid-19 restrictions, Auckland residents are waking up to new freedoms this morning under alert level 2.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health discovered what is believed to be the true first case of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

The case came to light when a man sought testing for Covid-19 after developing a sore throat. His weak positive result and serological test results indicated a long-standing virus infection dating back to February 21.

“This infection occurred in late February after exposure to an infected person from Italy,” the Health Ministry said.

“By the time the family member was visiting New Zealand, he became ill with symptoms consistent with Covid-19, and the family as a whole became ill as well.”

The family was not tested at that time because they did not meet the criteria for having defined symptoms combined with travel to or from China. “At that time, Italy had not been identified as a country of concern. This meant that the New Zealand home was not assessed at that time.

“This would mean that the infected family member from Italy is effectively now the first case that we are aware of in New Zealand, as they reported having symptoms upon arrival on February 21, a week before our first reported case on February 28. February, “he said the ministry.

Five other family members have been identified as probable historical cases of the virus.

“Consequently, 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.”

All of the cases originated in the Waikato region. The ministry said they pose no risk to the public.

“As part of the investigation, this man’s close contacts during his recent mild illness have been evaluated as a precaution and have returned negative results.

“We know that some people can return a positive PCR test long after they have recovered from the disease and are no longer infectious.”

Epidemiologist Michael Baker said the case was the longest he had heard of in a test after the person first fell ill.

“The test is very sensitive and you can get remnants of the original infection, which contains RNA, which is enough to be detected months later,” he said.

“This person was February, that’s the longest I’ve heard … that’s really pushing that maximum duration.”

Originally, New Zealand’s first Covid-19 case was believed to be a person who had traveled to Iran.

Yesterday there were three new cases of Covid-19.

These are new community cases and a family group linked to the chartered flight from Christchurch to Auckland on September 11 for people leaving a managed isolation center after completing their 14-day stay.

Also on the flight was the man who tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend, whose virus is believed to have had a rare three-week incubation period.

There were 86 people on the charter flight. All have been contacted and so far 63 have tested negative.

Another case of the man’s earlier Delhi-Fiji flight has now been genomically sequenced, and the result is a close match. The case is still being investigated, but it is believed that he contracted Covid-19 before arriving in New Zealand.