Covid 19 coronavirus: two new cases at the border; Investigate a possible infection of Air NZ personnel in China

There are two new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation.

Today there are no new community cases.

Both new cases arrived on November 19 and tested positive around day 3 of their isolation.

One came from the UK via the United Arab Emirates and the country of origin of the second case is still being determined.

There are now 52 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

Border worker of bungle officials

The Health Ministry also said it wrongly reported that a new case linked to the Defense Forces group was a border worker.

The person was actually a close contact for “Case B”, a member of the Defense Forces staff.

3,274 tests were conducted nationwide yesterday, bringing the total number of tests since the pandemic began to 1.23 million.

There are six confirmed cases in the Defense Forces group.

Does the Air NZ staff member test positive?

The ministry is investigating a possible Covid-19 case hired by an Air New Zealand staff member in China, according to TVNZ.

“In conjunction with the company, the ministry will continue to investigate the circumstances of this possible case,” the ministry said in a statement.

Ministry message

The ministry reiterated that at Alert Level 1 anyone who feels unwell with cold or flu symptoms anywhere in the country should get tested quickly and stay home.

“If you are unwell, sacrifice your plans and protect your family, friends and colleagues by staying home and getting tested for Covid-19.

“It is the best way to ensure that the freedoms we enjoy under Alert Level 1 can continue into the much anticipated summer vacation.”

The ministry also said that New Zealand’s contact tracing app would be updated tonight for ease of use.

Existing app users will no longer be prompted to log back into the app with their password, and new users would no longer have to provide their email address.

Yesterday’s cases

Nine new cases were confirmed yesterday, all in a controlled manner, as New Zealanders returned home in large numbers for Christmas.

They had traveled from eight different countries, an indication of how the pandemic continued to devastate parts of the world, the ministry said yesterday.

There are 50 active cases in New Zealand. 1.2 million tests have been performed since the pandemic began.

The Defense Forces group, which emerged from a staff member working at the Jet Park isolation facility, stood at six confirmed cases yesterday.

The sixth member of the group was confirmed Saturday and was a close contact of the first Defense Force worker to contract the virus.

Two pop-up test stations continue to operate in central and eastern Auckland in response to the cluster: one at High St and one at 292A Botany Rd (Spectrum House).

Meanwhile, a new study has detailed how a single traveler infected four others on a flight from Dubai to New Zealand, despite testing negative before boarding the flight.

The New Zealand government-funded study on the flight raises questions about the safety of international travel during the pandemic, even when precautions from pre-flight testing are taken.

The infections occurred on a flight from Dubai to New Zealand in September.

In all, seven cases from the flight were identified in controlled isolation and scientists believe that four of those cases contracted the virus during the 18-hour flight.

There were 86 passengers on board the flight.

Those seven passengers came from five different countries before traveling on the flight from Dubai, but genomic testing suggested that four infections occurred on board, as they carried genome sequences from Switzerland, the country of origin of the source case.