No new community cases; 3 cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation
There are no new cases in the community to report today.
There are three new positive cases of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation since our last media statement yesterday.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is one.
Four previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 80.
Two previously reported cases have been reclassified as not cases. One of these is now deemed historic and considered not infectious. The other case is also deemed historic and was recorded in the person’s country of origin so is not added to New Zealand’s count. These reclassifications mean there is a net change of plus one to today’s total number of confirmed cases, which is 2,244.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 49 historical cases, out of a total of 428 cases.
Testing information
The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,987,958.
On Wednesday, 5,173 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 4,096 tests processed.
On Saturday four community testing centres at Northcote, Henderson, Balmoral and Wiri will be open. The Balmoral community testing centre will also be open Sunday and Monday.
Testing is also available at after-hours general practices and urgent care clinics over the long weekend. For 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 number of close contacts of the border worker who tested positive on Tuesday has now increased to 31. As signalled yesterday, this is because the person worked three shifts during their infectious period with a number of colleagues. Public health officials have now identified 22 colleagues as close contacts, up from 17 yesterday.
Of the 31 close contacts, 14 have returned negative test results to date.
All close contacts are being communicated with and asked to self-isolate, monitor symptoms and undergo required testing.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,792,288 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 253,225,741 and users have created 9,473,457 manual diary entries. There have been 764,561 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.
Next update
The Ministry’s next update is planned for 1pm tomorrow, Friday 23 April.
