There are 11 new Covid-19 cases in the community.
It includes three cases in Wellington. It's the first time in this latest outbreak that a case has been found outside of Auckland.
The three cases in Wellington had recently travelled to Auckland and visited a location of interest.
They travelled on a flight and by car, with multiple exposure sites between the two cities, including petrol stations, restaurants and cafes. (Source: Other)
The remaining eight cases have been found in Auckland.
Nineteen cases have been confirmed as being part of the Auckland outbreak, while the remaining 12 are under investigation. However, there are plausible links for most of the 12 cases.
Of the 11 new community cases reported today:
This brings the total number of cases associated with the current community outbreak to 31.
The news was confirmed in a written statement from the Ministry of Health.
Whole genome sequencing of an Air New Zealand crew member who had flown from Japan has been confirmed as a border-related case. This person is not linked to the wider community outbreak.
On Friday morning, it was confirmed a man who was at Auckland's North Shore Hospital earlier this week before the shift to Alert Level 4 tested positive for Covid-19. He was diagnosed while he was a patient at Waitakere Hospital.
Genome sequencing
Genome sequencing for the 10 test results completed Thursday night confirm the community cases are all linked to the series of cases associated with Case A, a Devonport man who tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.
These cases are genomically linked to a case in managed isolation who stayed in the Crowne Plaza managed isolation facility - a traveller from Sydney.
Whole genome sequencing has also linked three cases who stayed in a room next to the Sydney traveller at the Crowne Plaza.
Public health officials are now arranging further testing for those returnees who have now left, or due to depart, who were on the same floor of the facility.
These sequencing results are preliminary, and additional analysis will be carried out before final confirmation.
Contact tracing
As of 9am Friday, 1189 individual contacts had been identified. This number excludes contacts from large settings, such as Avondale College and the Central Auckland Church of Christ. These groups are still being assessed.
Most of these contacts are in the Auckland and Waikato regions.
The Ministry of Health said “a proportion” was from other areas throughout the rest of the North and South Islands.
As of 9am today, 642 contacts were in the Auckland and Waikato regions. Meanwhile, 149 contacts were located throughout the rest of New Zealand.
The locations of the remaining contacts are still being confirmed.
SHARE ME