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The family was in Taupo from September 18-20, meeting with 18 people who had come from the Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton.
In a statement this afternoon, the ministry said public health services continue to contact, track, test and isolate close contacts of three community cases that were reported on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said.
All three people are part of the same family group: two had been in controlled isolation in Christchurch and returned home on a chartered flight, while the third is a family contact. Two were tested because they were known flight contacts from the original case; the third was tested because they were a domestic contact.
The family has isolated themselves for the past four days. As part of the ongoing investigation, more interviews have been conducted with the three new cases, the ministry said.
The family traveled to Taupo between September 18 and 20, where they were reunited with 18 other people from five locations in New Zealand. Those 18 people, who traveled from the Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton are considered close contacts.
In addition to those 18 people, 13 other people have been identified as close contacts. All 31 contacts have been or are in the process of being tested and all are being isolated.
Public health services have been in contact with businesses where people may have visited while they were infected.
The places and times of those visits that are considered to require public notification at this stage are:
• Christchurch National Airport, September 11, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
• Hot pools at DeBretts Spa Resort, Taupo, September 18, from 2.30 pm to 7 pm
• Taupo tandem skydiving based at Taupo airport, September 19, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Just Cuts, Westfield, St Lukes, Thursday, September 17, 4 pm to 5 pm.
THREE NEW CASES
There are three new Covid-19 cases to report in New Zealand today, all detected in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities. There are no new community cases.
The new cases are all separate returnees who arrived on different flights from the United States on September 18; from London via Dubai on September 16 and from Croatia via Frankfurt and Dubai on September 18.
Two are in quarantine in Auckland; the third case is under quarantine in Rotorua.
There are 32 people in isolation at the community’s Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 15 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.
Three people are hospitalized with Covid-19, one in Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore hospitals. The three patients are isolated in a general ward.
Since August 11, the contact tracing team has identified 4,044 close case contacts, of which 4,025 have been contacted and are self-isolating or have completed self-isolation. The ministry is in the process of contacting the rest.
The total number of active cases is 65; of these, 31 are imported cases in managed isolation / quarantine facilities, and 34 are community cases.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is 1,471.
Yesterday, the labs processed 6142 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 930,779.
