Covid-19: a new community case, an imported one

There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, says the Ministry of Health.

The first case is a recent returnee in a managed isolation facility and the second is a community case, the source of which is under investigation.

There are 50 people linked to the Auckland community group remaining in the Jet Park quarantine facility, including 20 people who have tested positive for coronavirus, as well as their household contacts.

Four people are hospitalized with Covid-19, one in Auckland City and North Shore Hospitals and two in Middlemore. The four patients are isolated in a general ward.

Since August 12 of this year, 3,918 people have been identified as close contacts of cases, of which 3,912 have been contacted and are self-isolating. The Ministry of Health is in the process of contacting the rest.

There are five recovered cases to report, bringing the total number of active cases to 67. Of these, 34 are imported cases at MIQ facilities and 33 are community cases.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases now stands at 1,460. Twenty-five people in New Zealand have died from the virus that has spread across the world this year, infecting 30 million and killing nearly 950,000.

Yesterday, the laboratories of the Ministry of Health processed 8359 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 905,436.

Friday marked four days since there was a case of community transmission of the virus, which returned to New Zealand with the Auckland group last month.

There are now 2,235,600 registered users on NZ Covid Tracer. The app has logged a total of 64,626,993 poster scans and users have created 3,035,580 manual journal entries.

The New Zealand Herald revealed this morning that nearly 100 healthcare workers were infected with Covid-19 while doing their job during the first outbreak, which is equivalent to 10% of all local cases.

Health unions say workplaces failed to keep staff safe and want a WorkSafe investigation. They are also frustrated by the lack of detailed information on how workers were infected with the deadly virus saying that it is “not good enough” and that it has not been publicly reported.