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There is a new coronavirus case to report in New Zealand on Friday and it is in the community.
The new case has an epidemiological link to an existing case and is associated with the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship bereavement subgroup.
The Health Ministry said in a statement shortly after 1 pm that there are a number of interrelated cases and contacts that may have been involved with both church subgroups.
“We have worked with ARPHS to refine our information to more clearly identify those whose source of infection occurred in bereavement events.”
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As a result, there are now 33 cases in the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship group and 13 cases in the bereavement subgroup, which includes cases where the source of infection was bereavement events.
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
Of 332 members of the Mt Roskill church, 82 percent had been retested by 8 a.m. Friday.
Some people connected to the group attended services and a wedding at Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship, which led to the formation of a “subgroup” among the congregation.
On Wednesday the existence of another subgroup, linked to “mourning activities”, was announced.
The ministry said church leaders were “actively encouraging” all its members to be retested for the virus.
By 8 a.m. Friday, 82 percent of the church congregation had been retested.
“We want to thank you for your participation in contributing to our efforts to control the wider Auckland group.
“We ask that the privacy of the people who are part of the fellowship be respected; no one asks that Covid-19 enter their home, place of work or place of worship.”
The total number of cases linked to the Auckland August cluster is now 174.
There are currently 114 active cases of the virus, with 1,442 in total.
A total of 70 people connected to the cluster remain at the Jet Park quarantine facility, including 55 people who have tested positive for the virus.
Three people remain in the hospital with the virus, and two in the ICU at North Shore Hospital and Waikato Hospital.
The Health Ministry confirmed that a Henderson North School student tested positive for the virus.
The student was a close contact for another, at nearby St. Dominic’s Catholic College, who tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.
Health Minister Chris Hipkins announced Thursday that the “repeated, deliberate and malicious” dissemination of misinformation through organized campaigns could threaten the country by going to alert level 1.
“Everyone has the right to be skeptical and have their own views, but equally everyone has the right to be sure,” he said.
“Please think twice before sharing or transmitting something that you cannot verify.
“Even better, we can all help eliminate misinformation by sharing the right information.”
University of Otago professor of public health and epidemiologist Michael Baker has said that while the decline in the number of daily cases was an encouraging sign, it will likely take New Zealand several weeks, or even months, to end the community broadcast for the second time.
