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MARTIN DE RUYTER
Wellington has confirmed a new “weak positive” case of Covid-19.
A person in Wellington has returned a “weak” suspicious Covid-19 test, weeks after completing his isolation.
It is the capital’s first possible case outside of government-run quarantine and isolation facilities in more than a month.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said the person returned from the United States in September and completed his 14 days of isolation on September 21.
They then fell ill after completing mandatory 14-day isolation while in Wellington this week and sought medical attention. Details about the disease are unknown.
The person tested a “weak” positive on Thursday, meaning the infection was likely historical and has since been transferred to a quarantine facility in Wellington.
The Ministry of Health is conducting further testing, but testing to date suggests that a historical infection is highly likely.
“We are taking precautionary measures as we always do in these cases and the person has been transferred to an MIQ facility in Wellington.”
“As we have seen with other cases, people can give weak positive results if they have been infected at the beginning of the year. This case follows a typical pattern of what we have seen in other historical cases ”.
Historic cases are considered low risk to the community. However, Stuff understand that contact tracing is in place as a precaution.
Health CEO Ashley Bloomfield has already warned that more of these historical cases would appear periodically.
Viral remnants of Covid-19 can be collected with swabs when inflammation from an unrelated surface can bring up particles that were not previously detected.
