There is one new case of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand today, and no cases of community transmission.
The case is a man is his 30s who arrived in New Zealand on June 21 from Kenya, via Doha and Brisbane. He has been staying at the Novotel Ellerslie and is moving to the Jet Park Hotel today. The man tested positive for COVID-19 as part of routine testing around day 3 of his stay.
That brings New Zealand’s total number of active cases to 14, all are in managed isolation or quarantine facilities. There are no cases in the community.
New Zealand’s total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is now 1,170, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.
The number of tests completed by laboratories yesterday was 9,825.
That brings the total number of tests completed to date to 378,257.
Testing
There will still be wide testing of people with cold or flu-like symptoms as part of our ongoing community testing and surveillance for the virus.
The main clarification in the case definition that was updated yesterday means that not everyone who is tested will need to self-isolate while they are awaiting the results of their test – only those who have respiratory symptoms and have had one or more of the following in the last 14 days:
- Contact with a confirmed of probable case
- International travel
- Direct contact with someone who has travelled overseas
- History of working on an international aircraft or shipping vessel
- Cleaning at international airport or maritime ports or areas frequently visited by international visitors
Earlier in the month the Director-General of Health signalled a move to more strongly focus testing at our borders. That approach was formally announced by the Health Minister this week, including that there will again be testing of asymptomatic workers involved in managed isolation and quarantine and airport and border staff. This is part of our wider surveillance measures and is expected to be operational in early July.
Our updated approach to testing also includes testing everyone in managed isolation twice during their stay whether symptomatic or not, and surveillance testing of people working in managed isolation facilities and around the border.
