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Two new community cases of coronavirus are domestic contacts of a person who recently returned from abroad and are not linked to the Auckland group.
The two cases are linked to a man in his 40s, who returned to New Zealand from India on August 27 and had completed managed isolation, obtaining two negative tests at the Christchurch facility.
He returned home to Auckland on September 11, before being confirmed as a coronavirus case on September 19.
Health Ministry officials said this man had a rare and extremely long incubation period after catching Covid on the flight from India, or caught on his flight from Christchurch to Auckland.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Nurse Cayla Jensen tests a woman in Auckland driving tests.
The returnee was examined after developing symptoms on September 16 and tested positive. He and his household contacts isolated themselves when he developed symptoms.
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They were all transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility on September 18, when the first case tested positive.
All identified close contacts have been isolated and tested.
The source of the case’s infection is still under investigation, but genome sequencing is consistent with two confirmed cases from the same flight from India to New Zealand that landed on August 27.
The Ministry of Health has two scenarios of how the man was infected.
It is possible that he was infected during that flight and had an extremely long incubation period; there is evidence that, on rare occasions, the incubation period can be up to 24 days.
“This person developed symptoms 21 days after arriving in New Zealand. If this is the case, it is outside the standard incubation period of the virus. “
The vast majority of people infected with Covid-19 will become ill within 14 days.
The Health Ministry said that keeping returnees in managed isolation for 14 days remains the gold standard.
“Our own model confirms that 14 days spent in isolation administered with two tests leaves a very low risk of someone leaving isolation administered with COVID-19.”
Another possible scenario is that the man was infected during the flight from Christchurch to Auckland.
Other passengers on that flight are being contacted and evaluated as a precautionary measure to exclude them as a source of infection.
“This case is another example of the sensitive nature of the virus and a reminder that anyone who has been through a managed isolation facility should be very aware of their health.
“Anyone who develops symptoms of Covid-19 should get tested and isolate themselves while waiting for the results like these people did.”
Imported cases
There were also two confirmed cases of coronavirus in controlled isolation on Sunday.
The first imported case is a man in his 30s who arrived from London via Dubai on September 16.
He tested positive for routine tests around the third day of his stay in controlled isolation at the Novotel Ellerslie, and is being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
The second imported case is a man in his 20s, who arrived from India via Singapore on September 12.
He returned a negative test around the third day of his stay in administered isolation at the Grand Millennium. The man was transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility as a close contact for a confirmed case, retested and tested positive.
As of September 20, there are 47 people in isolation at the community’s Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 20 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 patients are isolated in a general ward.
Since August 12, the contact tracing team has identified 3,916 close case contacts, of which 3,912 have been contacted and are self-isolating.
The total number of active cases is 71; of these, 36 are imported cases at MIQ facilities and 35 are community cases.
This brings the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 1,464.
Labs have processed 5,417 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 910,853
