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No new community cases of Covid-19 as seven close contacts of yesterday's cases test negative

February 15, 2021

The Ministry of Health has confirmed no new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today.

It comes after three community cases were confirmed in South Auckland yesterday. 

Yesterday's cases, which are a woman who works doing laundry for international aircrew and her family, have been confirmed with the new, more transmissible UK variant of the virus.

The Prime Minister said the cautious approach was the right move after three family members tested positive for Covid-19.

They are in quarantine in Auckland. One other household contact who has tested negative is isolating at home.

"Contact tracing has identified 10 close contacts outside the household. Six of these close contacts have returned a negative test and four results are pending," the Ministry of Health said in a statement today.

More than 1000 tests were carried out at community testing centres in Auckland yesterday, with many today extending their hours as people line up in kilometres-long traffic to be swabbed.

Testing stations with extended hours include Health New Lynn, The Whanau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri, Otara Community Testing Centre and Botany Testing Centre.

There is also a testing site at Papatoetoe High School, the school attended by Case B in the new Auckland February cluster, but it is only for students, teachers and their families.

Sky Chef, where Case A worked, also has testing onsite for staff and their families today.

Following the new cases, Auckland moved to Alert Level 3 at midnight, while the rest of the country moved to Level 2.

New managed isolation cases

Meanwhile, there were five new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and quarantine today, including one historical case.

One new case arrived from United Arab Emirates via Malaysia, and three others arrived from India via the United Arab Emirates all on February 13. They all tested positive on arrival in Auckland.

New Plymouth community urged to get a test only if they have Covid symptoms, or at place of interest

The fifth case is a person who arrived from the United States on January 28. The person has been deemed a historical case but remains in managed isolation.

Today, six people recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of active cases in New Zealand to 47.

The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand since the pandemic began is 1980.

Yesterday, more than 3100 tests for the coronavirus were carried out, adding to the total of 1.58 million since the pandemic began.

There are now 2.59 million registered users on the Covid Tracer app.

"It’s critical to keep track of where you’ve been and the Covid Tracer app is an easy way to do this. Please continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so," the Ministry of Health said.

1 NEWS politics editor Jess Mutch McKay explains the steps officials have taken ahead of the latest community cases.

The numbers were released by the Ministry of Health by email.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield will hold a news conference at 4pm.

It will be screened on TVNZ1 and 1news.co.nz. 

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