One new community Covid-19 case recorded in NZ today, 8 others in managed isolation

Nine new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in New Zealand today, including one in the community, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.

The other eight cases were detected in managed isolation facilities, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in today's 1pm press conference alongside Health Minister Chris Hipkins.

The one new community case is a household contact of a previously confirmed case in what Bloomfield has described as the "marine employee cluster". 

It comes after a Covid-19 positive person - connected to a port worker who tested positive for coronavirus - visited The Malt, a pub in Auckland’s Greenhithe, on Friday, October 16, from 7.30pm until 10pm.

All staff of The Malt have since returned negative tests, the pub's owner Kevin McVicar confirmed in a Facebook post today.

The man, who was unaware he was infectious at the time, also visited marine retailer Burnsco at Gulf Harbour twice on Sunday, October 18 - the first time at around 10.30am, then at around 3.30pm.

It follows two crew members on the Sofrana Surville who tested positive for Covid-19, while a third person received a weak positive, indicating an older infection. The ship is thought to be the source of recent community infections.

Seven of the cases in managed isolation involve fishing crew from the Sudima Hotel in Christchurch.

The new cases were identified through day six testing undertaken yesterday.

More positive cases can be expected "as the balance of the tests are processed from the day six testing," Dr Bloomfield said.

The eighth case from managed isolation originates from Iran. They travelled via Dubai and arrived in the country on October 19.

They tested positive on routine day three testing. They are now in the Auckland quarantine facility.

It's now been seven months since New Zealand saw its first Covid-19 case. 

Laboratories yesterday completed 6053 tests, bringing the total number of completed tests to 1,054,047

The total number of active cases in the country now stands at 66, and our overall total of confirmed cases is 1567.