The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced there are seven new positive cases of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation since our media statement last night. 

The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is nine.

There is also one new historical case to report. Historical cases are not considered to be infectious.

The number of previously reported cases that have now recovered is 17. The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 100.

The total number of confirmed cases is 2,227.

Since 1 January 2021, there have been 44 historical cases, out of a total of 411 cases.

Update on border-related cases

As announced by the Ministry last night, Case C, who is a close contact and colleague of the worker at the Grand Millennium who tested positive last week, is now at the Auckland quarantine facility with their partner. 

“The partner of Case C returned a negative test today,” the MoH statement says.

“Whole genome sequencing has been completed on a sample from Case C. This has shown it is closely linked to Cases B and A, which is what we would expect.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the period of interest for Case B has been extended back to March 29. This is as a result of more information and subsequent verification from testing of Case B, including repeat PCR, serology and whole genome sequencing. 

“The risk of infection continues to be low however we would encourage anyone who was at one of the of the locations of interest to monitor their symptoms for 14 days and get tested if feeling unwell.”

Locations of interest update

Six locations of interest have now been confirmed in relation to Case B. At this stage, there are no locations of interest for Case C.

“As soon as locations of interest are confirmed, they will be available on the Ministry’s website with the appropriate public health advice,” the MoH statement says.

“Anyone at these locations at this time are considered a casual contact and should monitor for any symptoms. If you begin to feel unwell or develop any COVID-19 symptoms, contact Healthline on 0800 358 5453, get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received.”

Contact Tracing

“Ten out of 11 close plus contacts of Case B have now returned negative results,” the MoH statement says.

The remaining person is Case C who tested positive yesterday.

“Of Case B’s close contacts, five out of eight have returned negative results and the remaining three are not due yet. Of Case B’s casual plus contacts, seven have returned a negative result and two are not due yet.”

Testing information

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,944,883.

On Sunday, 2,738 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4,221 tests processed.

A pop-up testing centre will be available at the Mt Roskill War Memorial, 15 May Road, Auckland, from 10am Tuesday to Thursday this week.

For up-to-date information on testing locations in Auckland, visit Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) for all testing locations nationwide visit the Healthpoint website.

NZ COVID Tracer

NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,779,687 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 245,509,836 and users have created 9,168,670 manual diary entries. There have been 656,323 scans in the last 24 hours to 1pm yesterday.

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.