Today there were no other cases of Covid-19 in the community, after a second managed isolation worker in Christchurch tested positive yesterday.
The Ministry of Health confirmed the second case yesterday evening, saying they were a close contact of the first health worker who tested positive on Monday.
The person visited South City mall and the Chemist Warehouse, but risk to the public is considered "very low", according to the Ministry of Health.
As they work at a managed isolation facility and are not returnees, both workers are treated as community cases.
Genome sequencing of the first staff member has been received and indicates that their viral genome is the same as that of five international mariners staying at the Sudima managed isolation facility. This genome has not been seen in New Zealand before.
Health officials say the person wasn’t symptomatic at the time and was unaware they have contracted the virus. (Source: Other)
Genome sequencing of the second staff member is underway.
The international mariners have had their isolation stays extended until Friday as a precautionary measure following the staff members becoming ill. This will be reviewed, though, as case investigations continue, the Ministry of Health said.
"Investigation around these cases is actively underway and will be thorough, and includes full assessment of the cases’ movements in the facilities, intensive review of video footage and further interviews with the two cases to determine any potential sources of infection."
Additional testing stations are running in Christchurch, with health officials urging anyone concerned they may have Covid-19 to seek a test.
All the fishermen tested negative for Covid-19 before boarding their flight, the Director-General of Health says. (Source: Other)
Today, there was also one new Covid-19 case in managed isolation and one historical case confirmed.
Today's imported case arrived from Singapore on 31 October and tested positive at around day three. They are now in quarantine at the Auckland facility.
The historical case confirmed today was a person who arrived in New Zealand on 18 October from Japan. They tested positive around day 12 in New Zealand.
"Subsequent negative repeat PCR tests, high CT values and positive serology mean we can now be confident this is not a case involving a recent infection," the Ministry of Health said.
After five cases of Covid-19 have recovered today, there are now 73 active cases in New Zealand.
The total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began is now 1615.
Yesterday, 7171 tests for the coronavirus were carried out, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,113,739.
The person is a close work contact of the case reported on Monday. (Source: Other)
There are now 2,338,900 users registered on NZ COVID Tracer app.
The new information was provided via a statement today as there was no live 1pm media conference.
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