Quarantining Covid-19-positive cases prevents spread within households - Dr Ashley Bloomfield

August 15, 2020

Dr Ashley Bloomfield said a family from the Marist College cluster had spent 46 days isolated at home during the first wave of coronavirus.

Covid-19 positive cases are being moved to quarantine facilities to prevent mistakes made in earlier clusters, Dr Ashley Bloomfield explained last night.

The Director-General of Health said one family in the Marist College cluster spent 46 days isolating at home as the virus made its way through family members during the first wave.

"One of the key reasons we want to create that opportunity for a very managed quarantine situation for these families affected is so that that doesn't have to happen again," he said.

Dr Bloomfield spoke to media alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last night as she announced Auckland would remain in Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country in Alert Level 2 for 12 days.

It comes after New Zealand's first cases of community transmission were detected on Tuesday after more than 100 days of elimination. As of today, there are 38 people infected with Covid-19 who are linked to the Auckland cluster.

Dr Bloomfield said public health advice was consistent with the decision made by Cabinet today to extend the alert levels.

"There may well still be the odd case and the odd new case in 12 days time, however the plan now is, and the reason we put all the effort into strengthening our testing and contact tracing and to adding in this addition of quarantining our cases to, in particular, prevent onward transmission within households.

"The reason we've boosted all that is we can contact trace and test and isolate our way through this outbreak. The alert levels provide additional assurance there."

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