Covid 19 coronavirus: two new cases in managed isolation, 1,500 community tests in Northland

More than 1,500 people have been tested for Covid-19 in Northland, with no evidence so far of a positive result in the community, figures from the Health Ministry show.

Two new cases of Covid-19 were reported today in managed isolation.

The latest cases arrived at MIQ from Japan and Portugal, arriving on January 24. Both were detected in routine tests shortly after landing, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Today there are no new cases in the community.

Today’s figures follow revelations that a 56-year-old Northland woman who recently returned from Europe tested positive for the infection days after leaving controlled isolation.

The Health Ministry said 16 people had now been identified as possible close contacts of the infected woman. Of those, 15 people had returned negative evidence, including a family contact on the case.

An additional close contact was still awaiting the test result.

154 ‘casual plus’ contacts of infected women

At this point, 154 people had been identified as “more casual” contacts of the Northland woman, as a result of the automated notification or after speaking to Healthline after the media publicity. These people were being tested and isolated until they received their result, the ministry said.

A total of 187 people received an automated notification as a result of having scanned at one of the 31 locations of interest visited by the infected woman. Yesterday another location was added that was on the ministry’s website.

The ministry said more than 1,500 people were tested yesterday at community testing centers in the Northland region.

“High demand on our Covid-19 testing sites may mean delays, and our request is for you to be patient,” the ministry said.

Additional staff had been recruited from Manukau counties and several volunteers to work at sites around the Northland region to support the test centers.

Front-line staff were working hard to ensure that everyone who needs to be tested gets tested as soon as possible, the ministry said.

“There is the ability to test everyone who needs a test, but we need your help to make the tests run quickly and easily.”

The Northland District Board of Health said the testing rate per 1,000 people was higher for Maori than for any other ethnicity in the region.

The ministry also clarified the criteria for the tests which included:

• If you were in the sights at the indicated times, you should take a test and remain isolated until you receive the result.

• If you have symptoms but have not been to a place of interest, stay home and call Healthline for advice.

The officials also repeated the request that if people were not in a place of interest at the established times and did not show symptoms, the test was not necessary.

Hotel staff, tested guests

Meanwhile, 157 employees of the Pullman Hotel in Auckland had been screened, along with 192 guests currently in the managed isolation facility. Of those, 30 still have test results to come, and all the others have returned negative results.

The 56-year-old returnee contracted South African Covid variant B.1.351 from another infected person while isolating himself at the Pullman hotel in central Auckland.

After leaving the hotel, she returned home to Northland, traveling and shopping in communities around the region while contagious.

Contact tracing personnel were following up on 357 people who left the managed isolation facility between January 9 and 24, the ministry said.

Of that number, 325 people had been contacted, were isolated and had been or were being examined. The remaining former guests were being followed today.

The ministry said the investigation into how Northland’s case was infected continued today at the managed isolation facility.

This includes reviewing CCTV images at the facility and noting if the infection may have occurred by person-to-person transmission or by surface transmission, or transmission by air, possibly including the ventilation system.

“We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge once again the tireless efforts of all staff working in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in New Zealand,” the ministry said.

“Your front-line efforts to help break the chain of Covid-19 transmission and keep New Zealanders safe and healthy are truly appreciated.”

The ministry said it was continuing to monitor advice from the World Health Organization on variant B.1.351 that had been hired by the Northland woman.

He said there is currently limited epidemiological data available on the strain.

“What we know so far is that it may be more transmissible. To date there is no indication of a difference in disease severity or incubation times and some evidence that it might evade some of the antibodies in the body’s immune response.” the ministry said.

New forms, or variants, of the virus had become increasingly common around the world and the ministry was hoping to see them appear in New Zealand.

Since last December, this has been the case in isolation and quarantine facilities run across the country.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 65. The total number of confirmed cases is 1934.

The official Covid Tracer app now has 2,496,000 registered users. The ministry said that more than 20,000 people registered with the app between 1:00 pm yesterday and 10:00 am today.

“It is understandable that there has been an increase in registered users, Bluetooth users and scans since Sunday and we would like to take the opportunity to thank New Zealanders who are helping to break the chain of transmission,” the ministry said.

“Remember to keep the momentum and scan, scan, scan.”

Since the news broke, test stations in the northern holiday region have been flooded.

Some concerned locals have spent up to 10 hours waiting in long, hot lines for a test after the Health Ministry revealed more than 30 sights from Whangarei to Helensville visited over a nine-day period while the woman was contagious.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins revealed that the woman and her only close family contact, her husband, were isolated at their home south of Whangārei.

Hipkins revealed that two of the four close contacts, her husband and a hairdresser, had not contracted the infection.

Today he tweeted that 14 other close contacts also tested negative.

Now only three test results were exceptional.

“Quite encouraging news to start the day,” he tweeted.

Despite the good news, the region remains on the cutting edge with thousands of concerned people lining up at test stations for the second day in a row.

Health authorities have moved to set up additional test stations across the region and moved some to larger locations to accommodate the hundreds of vehicles blocking the roads.

Meanwhile, a group behind last year’s roadblocks will set up Covid checkpoints on Northland roads.

Rueben Taipari, regional coordinator of the Tai Tokerau Border Control, said the location and hours of the checkpoints have not yet been confirmed.

The group had to act because the government was not doing enough to protect the vulnerable, he said.

Yesterday, the ministry also reported that there were six new cases of Covid-19 in controlled isolation.

Five had arrived from Qatar, India and Laos on January 23 and were detected as they entered the country.

Another person who arrived from Australia on January 13 tested positive in routine tests on the 11th.

There are now 64 people infected with Covid, bringing our total cases to 1,932 since the outbreak began.