Covid 19 coronavirus: how the latest cluster has spread and how the new community case is linked

It is the newest group in the country.

Labeled as the November quarantine group by the Health Ministry, it began when a Defense Forces worker, known as Case A, at Auckland’s Jet Park quarantine facility tested positive earlier this month.

In the space of fifteen days, six people in Auckland and Wellington have been infected. But exactly how all of the Covid-positive people contracted the virus remains a mystery.

The sixth case was announced on Saturday.

Spread to Wellington

On November 8, the public learned that a close contact from Case A had contracted the deadly virus.

Known as Case B, it was later confirmed that the person was also an employee of the Defense Force.

The Health Ministry said that while Case B did not work with Case A at the Jet Park quarantine facility, it was at a work-related meeting on November 4 in Auckland before traveling home to Wellington.

Everyone who attended the same meeting was identified and self-isolated as a precaution.

Case B was transferred to a quarantine facility in Wellington and five household contacts self-isolated.

The alarm was triggered by Case B’s movements after flying on Air New Zealand flight NZ 457 between Auckland and Wellington on Thursday 5 November. He was not wearing a mask.

Passengers seated in two seats in all directions were contacted and asked to take the test and isolate themselves until November 19.

As an added precaution, health officials asked the homes of those on the flight to isolate themselves until they were informed that close contact from their flight had had a negative result.

Case B reported developing mild symptoms the next day. They had three household contacts, all of which tested negative.

The contacts included two young children who attended two different schools, Boulcott Primary and Hutt Intermediate, in Lower Hutt.

The children were isolated and a negative test returned after the third day.

The students had been out of school on Friday, November 6, the day the Defense Force worker began showing symptoms, and as a precaution, they were kept in isolation for 14 days.

Genome sequencing matched cases A and B, confirming the transmission of Covid-19 from the first Defense Forces staff member to the second.

Second Wellington case

Then last week, on Thursday, a new case emerged: Case C. The person was found to be in close contact with Case B and tested positive the day before, on November 11.

That person met Case B for lunch in Wellington at Little Penang restaurant on The Terrace on Friday afternoon. Developing symptoms on Saturday, they isolated themselves at home and were tested for Covid-19.

Although they initially tested negative on the third day, they were quarantined at the Grand Mercure in Wellington as a precaution. A second test confirmed a positive result.

AUS study

Then came an AUT student (Case D) in her 20s working at the AZ Collections store in central Auckland, she tested positive.

She was genomically related to the original Defense Forces worker who was infected at the quarantine hotel, but it is not yet clear how the couple came into contact.

He works just 82 meters from a café that the defense worker visited.

Auckland CBD workers were asked to work from home after a long list of places the woman had visited was posted.

There was also confusion over whether the woman was told to go to work after becoming ill.

Last Thursday, Public Health Director Dr. Caroline McElnay co-chaired a press conference with Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins and said the woman called work sick after taking the test but finished. working after talking to his manager but wore a mask.

However, the owners of AZ Collections, husband and wife Bing Wang and Mei Chen, have released a statement through their attorneys, Focus Law, claiming that the employee had never told them she was ill, that she had tried to call to report that was ill or had had a Covid test.

The Herald has not been able to speak directly to the student. Focus Law issued a statement from her, saying that on the night of Monday, November 9, she had a sore throat and contacted her GP the next day and they recommended a Covid test.

On Wednesday, November 11, her sore throat was gone, the statement said, and she went to work wearing a mask “just to be safe.”

“I didn’t tell my boss or manager the above and didn’t ask for permission at any point. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

According to the statement, the language barrier issues meant that ARPHS staff “made a lot of mistakes in recording my whereabouts, past actions and contacts.”

The officials then organized a translator to help the contact trackers.

One person (Case E) living in the same apartment building as the Auckland student tested positive for Covid-19.

Last case

Officially dubbed Case F by health authorities, the person is a border worker in Wellington and a close contact for the second Defense Forces staff member.

Saturday’s case is one of 55 close contacts from Case B and had been self-isolating at home since the first week of November.

However, last Wednesday they chose to enter a dedicated managed isolation facility in Wellington and where they remain immobile after testing positive for coronavirus.

After six days without a new community case, officials revealed the case.