There are no new Covid-19 community cases to report in New Zealand today — meaning the latest Auckland cluster remains at six cases.
There are, however, three cases that have been detected at the border.
This afternoon's announcement comes after three new Auckland cases in the community were confirmed yesterday. Three other community cases — a family unit consisting of a mother, father and daughter from South Auckland — were announced on Sunday, sending the region into Alert Level 3 restrictions for three days. The rest of the country entered Level 2.
The three cases announced yesterday — also from a single family — have since been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
Today's announcement was provided by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in a press conference.
Thirty-one close contacts from Papatoetoe High School, where one of the initial cases attended, have returned negative tests, barring one of the cases announced yesterday.
Of the 1490 casual-plus contacts at the school, 1398 have returned negative tests and 91 are pending, Bloomfield said.
All classmates and teaching staff involved with the initial case are in isolation until February 24. The close contacts will need to return a second negative test before returning to school.
“I personally want to acknowledge the principal, Vaughan Couillault, for his strong support, reinforcement of the public health response and I think the model leadership, really, of that college community," Bloomfield said.
“No one at the high school there invited Covid in and principal Couillault has provided his community with the reassurance they needed at a time of high, unexpected stress so thank you very much.”
Hipkins added that Couillault is a "model of leadership in his response to Covid-19".
All nine staff working in the laundry area at LSG Sky Chef, where one of the initial cases worked, have since returned negative tests.
Of the 444 workers in the wider working environment, including contractors, 350 have returned negative tests, while 93 are pending.
Bloomfield said all scenarios for the possible source of the infection are under thorough and simultaneous investigation at this stage.
“The most likely source still remains transmission related to the airport environment where Case B – the mother – works,” he said.
He said one line of inquiry has since opened up at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Auckland, where there is a "possible genomic similarity between a previous positive case from December 7 who has now recovered and the current community case".
“Guests and household contacts who were at the facility in late December have been contacted to either get a PCR or a serology test if they had symptoms since leaving the facility," he said.
"We currently consider this a very unlikely source of infection at this stage but we are leaving no stone unturned."
The latest update comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced Auckland would drop down to Alert Level 2 today, while the rest of the nation largely returns to life as normal at Alert Level 1.
However, one change is that face masks on public transport are now required for the entire country at Alert Level 1. Previously, it was only required in Auckland. A review into the decision around face masks, and alert levels, will be reviewed next Monday.
The Covid-19 vaccination programme is ready to roll out vaccines for the first of the country's roughly 12,000 border workers from Saturday.
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