Two new Covid-19 cases in NZ, as Auckland eyes move to Level 2 tonight

August 30, 2020

There have been long queues at testing stations today after an incorrect message was sent out. (Source: Other)

New Zealand has two new cases of Covid-19 in the community, the Director of Public Health announced today.

Dr Caroline McElnay gave the latest figures at this afternoon's 1pm press conference in Wellington.

There are no new cases in managed isolation.

The update comes as Auckland looks to move to Alert Level 2 at 11:59pm this evening.

One of the cases is a household contact of a previously confirmed case from Finance Now - the workplace of one the cases from the family who first tested positive two weeks ago at the start of the Auckland outbreak.

The other new case is associated with an existing Tokoroa case who is a healthcare worker that works at a medical centre in Tokoroa.

Dr McElnay said it is believed the healthcare worker came into contact with the existing case on August 17 and, as per protocols, a test was carried out soon after which came back negative.

The positive result was picked up on a second test when the healthcare worker became unwell.

The medical centre is on high alert after the positive test result. (Source: Other)

The medical centre linked to the new case has since been closed pending further contact tracing and is undergoing a deep clean, despite previously working under Level 4 conditions with PPE use and patient screening.

The healthcare worker, who has no household contacts, has been in isolation since August 27 and contact tracing is now underway with authorities believing the new case was infectious between August 25 and 27.

The new cases bring the total confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic began to 1378.

There are 10 people currently in hospital with Covid-19 - two in Auckland City, three in North Shore, three in Middlemore and two in Waikato Hospital. Two of those cases - one in Middlemore and the Waikato case - are in intensive care.

Dr McElnay confirmed a further two people are now considered to have recovered from the virus, making New Zealand's active cases currently 136. There is one probable case active as well.

The Director of Public Health also noted there have been 2587 close contacts identified so far in the Auckland outbreak, of which 2475 have been contacted, are self-isolating and testing.

To date, 138 people linked to the new cluster have been moved to the Auckland quarantine facility, including 86 confirmed cases and their household contacts.

There were 10,487 test carried out yesterday also, taking New Zealand's total to date to 750,808. 

Labs have received 424 swabs from the Mt Roskill church, which has become a "mini cluster", since last Monday.

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