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A family of five is among the new cases in managed isolation, and the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive in China has been confirmed, the Health Ministry says.
Photo: AFP
The ministry said the crew member had been retested and returned another positive result, making it now a confirmed case, but all tests for the person’s 11 contacts had come back negative.
The person had seven close contacts and six casual contacts, the ministry said.
He said that only 10 people were recorded to have checked into Animates Manukau between 1.22pm and 2.11pm when the person had been there, after the ministry sent them an automated notification.
Of the eight cases of isolation managed, five were a family that arrived on November 19 from Mexico through the United States and all tested positive around the third day.
They, along with a person who arrived on November 19 from the United States and tested positive around the third day, had been transferred to the Christchurch quarantine facility.
Another person arrived on November 19 from Finland via Sweden and Qatar and tested positive around the third day, and another arrived on November 19 from Canada via Hong Kong and tested positive around the third day. They were both in the Auckland quarantine facility.
There are two additional recovered cases, which means there are now 59 active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s total confirmed cases is 1,683. Yesterday, labs completed 5,779 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,243,518.
Scientists this morning were waiting for a sample from the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive for Covid-19 after a flight to China to help identify the strain of virus involved.
Dr. Jemma Geoghegan, a virologist at the University of Otago, said it was difficult to know how someone contracted the virus when there was no known contact with anyone who had the infection.
The crew member tested negative before embarking on the trip, but tested positive once the plane reached Shanghai. The plane’s crew returned to New Zealand on a cargo-only flight from Shanghai and were separated from the person who tested positive and from other crew members.
It was unclear where the staff member contracted the virus, but as a precautionary measure, the Health Ministry was taking action as if it had been acquired in New Zealand.
The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) has published information on the places the person visited before leaving the country.
Yesterday there were two new cases of Covid-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation and there were no new community cases.
