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Health officials are investigating a suspected community case of Covid-19 in Northland, as eight new cases are reported in isolation.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins is due to provide an update on the possible community case at a press conference in Wellington at 4pm on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Health Ministry said they were investigating a positive test result on a person who had left an MIQ facility.
In Sunday’s update, there were eight new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation.
On Friday, there were nine new cases to report, all in isolation.
Lawrence Smith / Stuff
The Ministry of Health will provide the latest Covid-19 on Sunday afternoon.
Three of the cases were travelers returning from the United States and two from the United Kingdom, two from India and one from the United Arab Emirates and one from Kazakhstan.
That same day, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced that optional saliva tests would be available to border workers at quarantine facilities beginning Monday.
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It is the first time that the government offers saliva testing for Covid-19.
This new precautionary measure responds to the higher rates of infection abroad and the most transmissible variants of Covid-19.
Saliva tests would be offered on a voluntary basis and would not replace nasal swabs, Hipkins said.
The saliva tests were expected to mean that any positive cases among workers at the quarantine facilities would be detected faster and that workers would receive another layer of security.
