There are no new cases of Covid-19 to report in the community today connected to the Northland woman who contracted the virus.
However, there have been two new Covid-19 cases recorded at the border since yesterday.
One case came from Japan and tested positive for Covid-19. Another came from Portugal via the United Arab Emirates. Both people arrived in New Zealand on Sunday and returned a positive result after a day zero test. Both are in a quarantine facility in Auckland.
The Ministry of Health confirmed today’s numbers in a statement.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced the 56-year-old Northland woman had been confirmed as a community case.
The woman completed a 14-day stay in managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland on January 13, after travelling back to New Zealand from Europe. She developed symptoms on January 15 but didn't get a test for another week.
Initial investigations concluded it was “highly likely” the woman had contracted the South African variant of the virus from a fellow returnee during her time at the Pullman Hotel.
The Ministry of Health said 16 people in total now have been identified as a potential close contact of the woman. Fifteen have returned negative tests, and one close contact is awaiting test results.
A total of 157 managed isolation staff and 192 guests currently at the Pullman Hotel have been tested. Thirty test results are pending, and all others have returned negative results.
Between January 9 and 24, 357 people completed managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel. Of that, 325 people have been contacted, are in isolation, and have been or are being tested. Contact tracing staff are following up the rest today.
Investigations continue into how the Northland woman caught the virus at the facility.
"This includes reviewing CCTV footage at the facility and looking at whether the infection may have occurred from person-to-person or surface transmission, or airborne transmission, including possibly the ventilation system," the Ministry of Health said.
The Ministry of Health is continuing to release details of the Northland woman's movements from January 14 to 22.
Push notifications have been sent to 187 people because they had scanned to one of the 31 locations of interest. Of that, 154 people have been identified as “casual plus” contacts.
“Casual plus” contacts are required to self-isolate while waiting for test results because of the more transmissible nature of the South African variant of the virus. They have had limited exposure to the confirmed case by being in the same location of interest at the same time or soon after a confirmed Covid-19 case.
Prepare for delays at testing stations
Yesterday, more than 1500 people were tested at Covid-19 community testing centres.
Two days after news of the infection there’s still an air of tension.
"The high demand at our Covid-19 testing sites may mean delays, and our request is to please be patient," the Ministry of Health said.
"Extra staff from Counties Manukau and a number of volunteers are working at sites around the Northland region to support the testing centres.
"Frontline staff are working hard to ensure everyone who needs to be tested gets a test as soon as possible."
Figures given to 1 NEWS show five clinical staff have been sent up from Auckland today to assist at the Ruakaka testing site near Whangārei. There are a total of 20 staff at the Ruakaka site and 14 currently at the Whangārei Pohe Island site.
The Ministry of Health said people do not need to get tested if they weren't at a location of interest at the time the Covid-19 case was and have no symptoms.
"If you were at the locations of interest at the times stated, you need to get a test, and remain isolated until you receive the result.
"If you have symptoms but have not been to a location of interest stay home and call Healthline for advice."
One previously reported case has now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 65. It brings the total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand to 1934.
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,493,495.
On Monday, 3582 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 3660 tests processed.
More than 20,00 people registered with the COVID Tracer App from 1pm yesterday to 10am. The number of registered app users is now 2,496,000.
An additional 693,903 post scans have been recorded in the same period, bringing the total scans to 160,090,202. App users have created 6,541,813 manual diary entries.
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