2 new imported cases of COVID-19; no new community cases
There are two new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new community cases to report in New Zealand today.
The first imported case is a person who arrived from Paris (via Dubai / Kuala Lumpur) on 23 October. The second is a person who arrived from London (via Dubai / Kuala Lumpur) on 23 October.
Both cases were identified during routine testing around day 3 of their time in managed isolation and have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
Four cases have now recovered, meaning the total number of active cases is 66.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,587.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 3,335 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,075,827.
Auckland testing
Testing in Auckland is available today at seven community testing centres (CTCs) in addition to the usual testing in general practice and urgent care clinics.
Testing is available at Northcote Community Testing Centre, Northcare Accident and Medical, Whānau House in Henderson, Western Springs Community Testing Centre, Health New Lynn Community Testing Centre, Whānau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri, and the Otara Community Testing Centre.
Today is the last day testing will be available at Northcare Accident and Medical, this was set up as a surge CTC in response to the latest outbreak.
For information on where to get tested in Auckland, contact Healthline (0800 358 5453) or visit www.arphs.health.nz/covid19test.
Ken Rei
The cargo ship Ken Rei remains docked at the Port of Napier.
The crew are reported to be well and in ‘good spirits.’ They have all previously returned negative COVID-19 test results.
All crew members were tested again yesterday afternoon, these tests are being processed today.
No crew members have applied for shore leave in New Zealand. The ship will depart Napier on Thursday and head for Tauranga.
International mariners in managed isolation in Christchurch
There are no new cases to report today from the international mariners who are staying in managed isolation in Christchurch.
To date, twenty-nine international mariners have tested positive for COVID-19. Day 12 testing for all the other mariners who did not test positive during prior tests is underway.
A decision on how long the international mariners will remain in the facility will be confirmed after these test results are received and reviewed.
Genome sequencing has been completed from 11 high quality samples taken from the positive cases. The results are consistent with infections originating overseas.
Japan
As we have previously reported, a New Zealand child had returned a weak positive COVID-19 test after their arrival in Japan last Friday 23 October.
We suspect this is a historical case or a false positive result.
We continue to work with our Japanese counterparts and will provide further details when they are available.
NZ COVID Tracer App
A total of 757,592 scans were recorded yesterday, which shows the increase in scans we saw over Labour weekend has continued.
It is encouraging that New Zealanders are responding to the call to get back into the habit of scanning codes with the app, but we still have a way to go to get back to the level of usage seen in early September.
Thank you to everyone scanning everywhere they go – keep up the good work and don’t be shy to encourage others to scan, too.
