Covid 19 coronavirus: two new cases in New Zealand, one in the community

There are two new cases of Covid-19, one in the community.

One case is from abroad and tested positive in controlled isolation.

The case of the community is a woman in her adolescence who was already isolating herself. She is a family contact, epidemiologically linked to the mourning subgroup of the Auckland August cluster of Mt Roskill.

The imported case is a man in his 40s who returned from Russia on a flight via Turkey and Malaysia on September 19. He returned a positive test result on day 3 and is now in the quarantine facility in Auckland.

There are 35 people in isolation at the community’s Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 15 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.

Three people are hospitalized, one in Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore hospitals. The three are isolated in a general room.

The Ministry of Health has identified 4,053 close contacts of cases, of which 4,050 have been contacted and are self-isolating or have completed self-isolation.

“We are in the process of contacting the rest,” the ministry said in a statement.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 60. Of these, 29 are imported cases and 31 are in the community.

New Zealand’s total number of confirmed cases is 1,473. Yesterday, labs processed 6,465 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 937,244.

The ministry said public health services continue to contact, track, test and isolate close contacts of the three community cases reported earlier this week after a group of 21, including three infected people, gathered to spend the holidays in Taupō last weekend.

Two of them had been in controlled isolation in Christchurch and returned home on a chartered flight, while the third is a family contact.

The five families that traveled to Taupō came from all over New Zealand, including Kawerau, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch.

So far, the Ministry of Health has marked 15 restaurants, shops and tourist attractions as places of interest between Auckland and Tūrangi.

These are:

• McDonald’s Frankton, Frankton, Sunday, September 20, 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Subway, Robert St, Taupō, Sunday, September 20, 5:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
• KFC Taupō, Robert St, Taupō Sunday, September 20, from 5:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
• Z Turangi Gas Station – Cnr State Highway 1 and Pihanga Road, Turangi Sunday, September 20, 11 a.m. M. A 11.12 a. M.
• Taupō Tandem Skydiving, Taupō Airport, Saturday, September 19, from 2 pm to 3:15 pm.
• DeBretts Hotsprings, Taupō, Friday September 18, 14:40 to 18:45
• McDonald’s Tokoroa, Tokoroa, Friday, September 18, 9:30 a.m. M. A 9.44 a. M.
• Kmart St Lukes, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday, September 17 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. and Monday, September 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Farmers St Lukes, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday 17 September, 5:00 PM to 7:20 PM
• Mountain Warehouse, Westfield St Lukes, Auckland, Thursday 17 September, 5:00 PM to 7:20 PM
• Just Cuts, Westfield St Lukes, Thursday, September 17, 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
• Dress Smart Outlet Shopping (Jacqui E, Max, Fila, Puma), Onehunga Auckland, Wednesday 16 September, from 2:45 to 5:00 p.m.
• Lotus Supermarket, Mt Roskill, Auckland, Saturday September 12, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Briscoes St Lukes, Morningside, Auckland, Saturday 12 September, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
• Christchurch Airport: Departures, Harewood, Friday September 11, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

There are 35 close contacts associated with these cases, the ministry said. Eight have had negative test results and the remainder have been or are in the process of testing. All are now self-isolated.

Public health services in the relevant regions have been in contact with companies where people may have visited while infectious and will release information to the public as appropriate.

The group started with a man in his 40s who gave two negative test results, but was found to have the infection when he returned to Auckland after spending 14 days in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch.

At this stage, it is believed that you contracted the virus after a rare incubation period of 21 days.

Today epidemiologist Professor Sir David Skegg said the newer group had the potential to be very serious.

“This is just a reminder that removal is a process, not a destination.

“This will continue to happen and it is essential that we can stay on top of the cases.”

Covid-19 modeler Shaun Hendy said advice on isolation duration should be adjusted as more is learned about the disease and its possible incubation period.

“There should be some concern about the latter case and I think that, in particular, because it is distributed throughout the country, it is not limited to one part of the country.”

Yesterday there were three new cases of Covid in New Zealand. All Kiwis were recently returned in managed isolation facilities.

Meanwhile, Auckland’s August group, which hasn’t seen any new cases in over a week, remains at 178.

– with RNZ