No new community cases; 1 new case of COVID-19 in managed isolation
There are no new cases in the community to report today. The border worker announced by the Ministry of Health yesterday has been officially included in today’s numbers.
There is one new case of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation since yesterday.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is one.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 83. Five previously reported cases have now recovered.
Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,243.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 49 historical cases, out of a total of 427 cases.
Testing information
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,982,784.
On Tuesday, 4,771 tests were processed.
The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4,137 tests processed.
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.
April airport case update
The border worker reported yesterday has 25 close contacts identified to date – the seven who have been tested so far have returned negative results. One is being followed up today, and the remainder of those identified are not yet due for testing - this is because we test close contacts on day 5 after they have potentially been exposed to the virus for the best chance of detecting any infection that may be incubating. All close contacts are self-isolating.
Of those, 17 are workplace contacts. This number will likely increase – the person worked three shifts during their infectious period with a number of colleagues, and officials are working to determine who is a close contact from their interactions.
Last night we received the results from whole genome sequencing of this person’s PCR test.
The whole genome sequence was indistinguishable from that of a person who arrived in the country on 10 April from Ethiopia via the United Arab Emirates. The genome of both these cases is the B.1.1.7 – which is the variant first identified in the UK.
We have confirmed the worker announced as a case yesterday did clean the same plane the person from Ethiopia arrived on. While there is a clear link to a known case of COVID-19, we are still investigating how the cleaner was infected.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,790,716 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 252,418,078 and users have created 9,442,670 manual diary entries. There have been 751,208 scans in the last 24 hours to midday yesterday.
We recommend people continue to scan QR codes wherever they see them with the NZ COVID Tracer app.
The more we all scan, the safer we’ll all be. The data is stored on your phone until you choose to share it.
