No new cases of COVID-19 31 July

There are no new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

It has been 91 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 remains at 1,210, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.

Four previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, which brings the total number of active cases in New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine facilities to 20.

There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for COVID-19.

Yesterday our laboratories completed 2,476 tests, of which 2,022 swabs were taken in the community, and 454 were taken in managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

That brings the total number of tests completed to date to 465,066.

COVID-19 case in South Korea

There continues to be no evidence of transmission in New Zealand involving the traveller who tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in South Korea.

All domestic contacts of this case tested to date have returned negative results.

While these results reinforce that the public health risk from this case continues to be low, further contact tracing is taking place around their travel within New Zealand, including their visit to the Queenstown area in early July, the South Auckland area where they were based and Christchurch where they departed from.

Targeted testing

This weekend district health boards will stand up a targeted testing surveillance programme in the Queenstown, South Auckland and Christchurch – these locations are connected to the case in South Korea.

This person was in Manurewa and Takanini in South Auckland on 20 June – 20 July, Queenstown on 1-4 July and in and around Christchurch Airport on 20-21 July.

The DHBs and public health units will be providing community specific information around where and when testing can take place. You’ll find this information on their websites and on social media.

If you have, or may have had symptoms, please contact Healthline or your GP for an assessment for testing. The COVID-19 assessment and COVID-19 testing are both free.

/Public Release. View in full here.