New Zealand records Fresh cases of COVID19

So will they lock Auckland down. Again?

Surely that strategy is getting long in the tooth....

No. The community case is a contact of port worker, and seems to have been picked up very quickly.

Most of the other cases are fishing ship crew recently arrived from Russia and Ukraine. All of them (there was a whole charter planeload) won't be allowed out of quarantine until cleared.
 

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sofrana Surville
Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
22 October 2020

Positive test results from crew members on board the Sofrana Surville support the hypothesis that the port worker reported by the Ministry of Health on Sunday could have been infected while working on board.

The Sofrana Surville had travelled from Papua New Guinea to Solomon Islands to Brisbane to Tauranga to Auckland, where eight crew joined it from the Philippines on October 13.

The worker was on board the Sofrana Surville on October 12 and 13 conducting maintenance work, while wearing personal protective equipment.
The specific genome sequence of the virus he has contracted has not been seen in New Zealand before.

The Sofrana Surville then travelled to Noumea and is now in Australia. Authorities in Australia have this afternoon confirmed that of the 19 crew members on board, three show evidence of a current or previous COVID-19 infection.

One person returned a negative PCR test and a positive serology test – indicating they have previously been infected with COVID-19, and are now recovered.

Another person appears to be at the end of a recent infection, returning a weak positive PCR test, and a positive serology test.
A third person returned a positive test with results indicating a mid-late current infection.

Australian authorities are carrying out whole genome sequencing on the positive cases which will help further determine if the infected crew members are the likely source of the port worker’s infection.
 
One new community case.


Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
23 October 2020

There are nine new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

Eight of these cases have been detected in our managed isolation facilities and one is a household contact connected to the marine employee cluster, who was already in self isolation.

Seven of the cases in managed isolation involve fishing crew at our Christchurch facility. These were picked up at day six testing and we do expect more positive results from this group as more tests are processed today.

The other case from managed isolation arrived from Iran via Dubai on 19 October. They tested positive following routine day 3 testing and are now in our Auckland quarantine facility.

Our total number of active cases is now 66.

Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,567
 
There are no new cases in the community.


Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
24 October 2020

There are 11 new cases of COVID-19 to report since our previous media update at 1pm on Friday – all from managed isolation. There are no new cases in the community.

Five of these cases are part of the day 6 testing of international fishing crew in Christchurch. We have always expected that additional cases from this group were likely.

Of today’s other cases detected in managed isolation, one involves a family group of two people who arrived from Amsterdam via Singapore. The other cases involve two recent arrivals from the United Kingdom and one who arrived from the United Arab Emirates. All cases have returned positive tests at around day 3, as part of our standard border testing protocols and they are now in quarantine. We are continuing to seek further detail around a sixth case.
 
It is three days since the last community case in NZ and so it looks like the Port Worker cluster may well have dried up.

Media release by NZ Health
26 October 2020
There are again no new community cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.
There are five new cases from managed isolation.
 
And..... its bubbled back up again!

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Christchurch residents in testing drive after two health workers test positive

Queues are forming at pop-up testing centres in Christchurch, in New Zealand, after two cases of COVID-19 were detected in health workers


 
NOVEMBER 3 2020 - 4:43PM
Two new COVID-19 cases in Christchurch

New Zealanders face a tense few days as they wait to learn whether the country's COVID-19 regime will keep two community cases from developing into another outbreak.

Health authorities alerted Kiwis to a fresh case of coronavirus in the community on Monday night, a health worker at the Sudima Hotel, a managed isolation (MIQ) facility in Christchurch.

On Tuesday night, a second community case was reported from the same location.
The hotel is being used to house international arrivals to New Zealand who test positive to the deadly virus.




Media release by NZ Minstry of Health
03 November 2020

Managed isolation case in Christchurch
Last night the Ministry announced a new case in Christchurch, related to managed isolation and subsequently detected in the community.

The case is a member of the health team working at the Sudima Christchurch Airport managed isolation facility where the international mariners are in managed isolation and quarantine.

The individual was tested as part of the routine testing for staff in the facility and returned a negative test on Thursday 29 October. On Saturday they developed symptoms and sought a further test on Sunday. A positive result was received yesterday.
The person is now in isolation.

This person has one household contact, a student at Cashmere High School, who has been tested once and has already returned a negative test. As a close contact, the student will also remain in isolation for 14 days and will be tested again at around days 5 and 12 as per standard close contact procedure.

Today, parents, caregivers and staff at Cashmere High School received a letter around this contact. As advised in the letter, students and staff do not need to be tested unless they have symptoms of COVID-19, and as per routine guidance they do not need to self-isolate.


Media release by NZ Minstry of Health
03 November 2020

The Ministry is today confirming a second worker at the Sudima managed isolation facility in Christchurch has tested positive for Covid-19.
The person is a close workplace contact of the case reported yesterday.

As the person works at the facility and is not a returnee they are treated as a community case.
Both this case, and the one reported on Monday, came into contact with the international mariners in the course of their duties, including some of the 31 mariners who have tested positive to COVID-19 and who remain in quarantine.

The individual was tested as part of the routine testing for staff in the facility and returned a negative test on Thursday 29 October. They are asymptomatic and were retested after being identified as being a close work contact of the case reported on Monday and a positive result was
received today.

The person is now in isolation at home and transfer is being arranged to a managed isolation facility.
The initial assessment is that there are only two close contacts of this current case, both household contacts, both are now being tested and both are in isolation at home.

At this stage the Ministry is not advising of any need to change the current approach. Both cases have limited numbers of contacts and the incident is currently well contained.

The first of the international mariners, due to complete their managed isolation this morning, have had their managed isolation extended for at least a further 48 hours as an additional precautionary measure while further information from the current round of staff testing is gathered.
Those precautionary measures have included additional tests – up to four tests for some individuals - and an already lengthened stay in managed isolation.

The genome sequencing of the case announced on Monday is not expected to be completed until this evening and will be reported tomorrow.


Media release by NZ Minstry of Health
04 November 2020

There are two additional cases of COVID-19 to report today, and the case we announced last night.
Of today’s cases, one involves the second managed isolation worker in Christchurch which is being formally added to our total today. One is a recently arrived case from managed isolation and the third is a recently identified historical case.

Today’s recently arrived case arrived from Singapore on 31 October and tested positive at around day 3. They are now in quarantine at our Auckland facility.

Today’s historical case arrived in New Zealand on 18 October from Japan. They tested positive at around day 12. 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.

Post automatically merged:

And..... its bubbled back up again!


Well not quite bubbled up again as in coming from unknown community spread), as is rather yet another hotel quarantine breach in NZ.
 
An extract from the NZ Ministry of Health, Media release, 06 November 2020


Cases linked to managed isolation in Christchurch
Since identifying the positive test results in the two people who work in the managed isolation facility at the Sudima at Christchurch Airport, our systems have rapidly worked to put a ring around the virus and stop it spreading in the community.

The first health care worker reported as testing positive sought a test quickly after developing very mild symptoms, even though they had just been tested two days earlier.

This swift action allowed us to rapidly isolate Case A and trace and test their contacts.

We then identified a further positive case in another health care worker, Case B, and quickly traced and tested their contacts too.

Widespread testing has taken place in the managed isolation facility and in the contacts of the two health care workers.

Staff who worked at the Sudima Hotel since 23 October have been tested, with all 193 returning negative results.

All of Case A’s close contacts have returned a negative result, and all results received from Case B’s close contacts are negative to date, with one result outstanding.

Investigations are ongoing to determine when exactly the health care workers were exposed to the virus, but we believe them to have been infected by the international mariners they have been caring for, 31 of whom have tested positive for COVID-19.

The genome of Case A is B1.1.7 – of the international mariners who have tested positive for COVID-19, five are part of the B1.1.7 lineage.

Case A’s genome is an exact match with the genomes from these five mariners, indicating a high likelihood that one of these guests is the source of the health care worker’s infection.

We are awaiting genome sequencing results for Case B.

The health care workers wore PPE while conducting their work, but we know this virus is tricky and has thwarted our systems before.

As we have done after other events, a review will be undertaken at the managed isolation facility at the Sudima to assess where procedures could be improved to prevent similar infections in the future. These reviews have taken place at other managed isolation facilities and are part of our approach to continually improve how we manage COVID-19.

The Community and Public Health team in Christchurch has conducted detailed investigations including interviews and contact tracing and we are confident that there is only an extremely low risk of re-exposure from the health care workers to the mariners. The Community and Public Health team is working on an exit plan for the mariners, who will be transferred directly onto their ships once released from managed isolation.
 
In NZ a Auckland Quarantine worker has now tested positive. This follows, but is not linked to the two recent quarantine workers who tested positive in Christchurch.


Media release from the NZ Ministry of Health.

1 case of COVID-19 in quarantine worker
Media release
07 November 2020

There is one new case of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand – the worker at the Auckland quarantine facility announced by the Ministry on Friday night.

In addition to the new case, there is one historical case being added to New Zealand’s total case numbers.

The historical case is a recent returnee who arrived in New Zealand on 5 October from London via Singapore. Upon arrival at their managed isolation facility they alerted staff to their previous positive test which was confirmed in London on 19 September. They were tested again and returned a positive result on 5 October, with a high CT value indicating an old infection, consistent with this earlier positive result. We are awaiting confirmation that the case has been recorded in the United Kingdom totals, and until then are classifying it as a historical case which will be reported in our case numbers.
Three previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, bringing the total number of active cases to 43.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,620.

Yesterday our laboratories completed 5,834 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,132,820.

Quarantine worker case in Auckland
Upon receiving the positive result from the worker in the Auckland quarantine facility, our systems quickly responded to ensure the risk of the virus spreading was contained.

This person is now in isolation at the quarantine facility.

We have identified 25 close contacts of the worker, and they have all been contacted, are isolated, and are being tested. To date, six have returned a negative test result and the remaining are pending.

As in other cases, this person quickly got tested after developing symptoms, which has allowed us to act quickly to stop the spread of the virus.
A review of the movements of the case and their contacts is underway – the case has provided a very detailed account of their movements which has informed a rapid contact tracing response.

The two premises visited by the worker during their infectious period closed for a deep clean, and we thank them for their cooperation in ensuring the public are protected from this virus.

Less than 20 people received an alert from NZ COVID Tracer notifying them that they had scanned in to the business at the same time as the person who has later tested positive for COVID-19.

This case once again reinforces the importance of everyone who is able to using the app to keep a record of where they have been - it allows our contact tracing team to quickly notify you if you may have been exposed to this virus, and allows you to take immediate action to protect yourself, your whanau, and your community.

Testing is widely available for the public in Auckland, at community testing centres and urgent care clinics across the city. Details on where to get tested are available on the Auckland Regional Public Health Service website.

A pop-up testing clinic has also been running at the Auckland quarantine facility since this morning to test all staff. This is supplementary to the regular testing that workers in managed isolation facilities undertake as part of ensuring the virus does not leave the facility. Additional testing is also underway for staff who work at other managed isolation facilities who are staying in the same accommodation facility as this case.

The different layers of protection we have in place are working together to prevent and manage risks.

Managed isolation workers are regularly tested. As in other recent cases this worker quickly got tested as soon as they became aware of symptoms. The early identification of cases along with rapid contact tracing assists in stopping any spread of the virus.

We want to acknowledge the important work being done at New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

Thanks to our workers, tens of thousands of people have returned from overseas and completed their managed isolation stay safely, before returning to communities.
We take the safety of our workers and their families, whânau and broader communities very seriously. That’s because the people who work in managed isolation and quarantine facilities do essential work to keep COVID-19 out of Aotearoa.

From the time facility staff arrive at work, through to when they get home, they follow health and safety guidelines, which includes regular testing.
We want to emphasise how important it is to be kind and show aroha to the workers in our managed isolation and quarantine facilities. Like all New Zealanders, their wellbeing matters. Please take the opportunity, whenever you can, to show them your support.

Managed isolation worker cases in Christchurch
The genome sequencing results for health care worker Case B from the Sudima Hotel Christchurch Airport has shown a clear link with the international mariners, but their genome is different from Case A.


Both cases had lineages of the virus not previously seen in the community in New Zealand.

The finding supports the current theory that there were two separate events infecting both workers at the facility.

While it’s clear the infection came from the mariners, investigation continues to see if we can find out more about how the possible infection occurred.
All of Case A and Case B’s close contacts have now returned a negative result.

International mariners
The international mariners who have been staying in managed isolation at the Sudima Hotel at Christchurch Airport have now departed the facility to board their ships.

Last night we reported seven mariners as remaining behind in the Sudima. Of those, three are now considered to have recovered and have been cleared for release.

One additional mariner has remained behind after reporting symptoms during their departure health screening. They have been tested and returned a negative result, but will need to be symptom free for 48 hours before being cleared to depart.
 
Last edited:
Close contact of a quarantine worker infected = community transmission case



Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
08 November 2020

There are six new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

Five are recent arrivals detected in managed isolation and one is a close contact of the Auckland quarantine worker first reported by the Ministry on Friday.

The five cases from managed isolation are all at our Auckland quarantine facility:

  • One case who arrived from Italy via Hawaii on 3 November and who tested positive at around day 3 routine testing.
  • Two cases who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on 3 November and who tested positive at around day 3 routine testing. Please note these people did not travel together.
  • One case who arrived from Romania via Doha and Australia on 3 November and tested positive at around day 3 routine testing.
  • One case who arrived from Germany via the United Arab Emirates on 5 November and was taken directly to the quarantine facility after appearing symptomatic.
One previously reported case is now considered to have recovered. Our total number of active cases is 48.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,626.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 4,116 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,136,936.

November quarantine cluster
Today’s sixth case is a close contact of the quarantine worker reported from the Auckland facility on Friday.

Neither of these cases are health workers. Both are Defence Force employees. Case A has performed a role at the Auckland facility. Case B does not work at the facility but had a work-related meeting with Case A on Wednesday 4 November in Auckland before travelling home to Wellington. Attendees at this meeting have been identified and are isolating.

Genomic testing is underway to confirm, however Case B is currently regarded as a community case which can be traced to the isolation facility. They are now in a quarantine facility in Wellington. Five household contacts are in self-isolation and are being tested.

Case B flew from Auckland to Wellington on Thursday evening (5 November) on Air New Zealand flight NZ 457 and sat in row 23. Those passengers sitting two seats in all directions are being contacted and asked to get tested and self-isolate until 19 November.

As an added precaution, we are also asking the households of these flight close contacts to isolate until advised that their flight close contact has had a negative test. These households are regarded as second-order contacts.

Anyone else who was on the flight and is concerned about their health can call Healthline on 0800 358 5453

Case B reports developing mild symptoms late on Friday evening. Auckland Regional Public Health and Regional Public Health in Wellington will continue to work with Case B to trace other meeting attendees, and movements following their meeting with Case A.

Relevant locations of interest, including any businesses, will be contacted and publicly advised as they become available. Close contacts will be contacted directly.

Regarding Case A, we can now advise that preliminary results from their genomic testing shows a link to cases previously identified within the Jet Park facility. This can give us confidence that we will be able to identify how transmission may have come about. We are already actively working to track this.

At this point, there is nothing to suggest there is any wider risk in the Auckland or Wellington regions.
 
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And pops up again.... but NZ can't open to Australia still? They've got more community transmission than VIC ;)

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Breaking: New Zealand record one new community transmission case of COVID-19

New Zealand's recorded one new case of coronavirus with an unknown source in Auckland.

The woman in her 20s became symptomatic on Monday, but continued to travel to work in the city.

She has now been moved into quarantine.

Two other cases were recorded, one in managed isolation, and another linked to an existing cluster.

More to come


 
Just on the two new community cases more details are below.

The new Auckland case while they are playing down transmission concerns, must be very much a concern to NZ authoriritis as there is no obvious link as yet to where one could be expected to catch Covid 19 such as quarantine, airports or seaports etc. So this could be tip of an unknown transmission chain of unknown size popping up.


Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
12 November 2020

There are three new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

One case was detected in a recent returnee in a managed isolation facility.

They arrived on 9 November from Los Angeles. They returned a positive test around day 3 of their stay in managed isolation and have been moved to the Auckland quarantine facility.

There are two new cases in the community.

One of these is connected to the November quarantine cluster. Case C is a close contact of Case B and tested positive on 11 November.

Case C met Case B for lunch in Wellington at the Little Penang restaurant on The Terrace on Friday afternoon. On developing symptoms on Saturday they self-isolated at home and had a COVID-19 test.

Although initially returning a negative result on day 3, they were moved to quarantine at the Grand Mercure in Wellington as a precaution on Tuesday. A second test yesterday resulted in a positive result.

Push notifications were sent out on Sunday for Little Penang The Terrace, visited by Case B and Case C. Anyone who visited the restaurant between 1pm and 4pm on Friday should have a test if they feel symptomatic.

Household contacts for Case C are in isolation and have returned negative results.

All identified close contacts of the new case are isolating.

All close contacts of Case B, other than Case C, have returned a negative test result.

Auckland community case
Today we are also reporting a community case in Auckland for which we continue to investigate the source of transmission.

The person became symptomatic on Monday 9 November. They were tested late on 10 November. They went to work at A - Z Collection on High Street from Sunday 8 November to Wednesday 11 November.

Their positive test was confirmed this morning, 12 November. They are being moved to the Auckland quarantine facility today.

This is another very important reminder that if you are unwell with cold symptoms, you should get a test and stay at home until you have a negative test result.

Auckland Regional Public Health is interviewing the case today to identify close and casual contacts, and to further understand their movements during the period they may have been infectious, which we currently believe to have been around Saturday 7 November.

The person lives alone and appears to have had limited community outings recently. For instance, they have not visited a supermarket during the period they might have been infectious. The person is a student at AUT, however they have not been to any lectures or classes on campus since mid-October. There is no concern with any potential exposures on campus.
 
New Zealand rushing to contain new COVID-19 community case

New Zealand health authorities are scrambling to stop a community outbreak of COVID-19, a day after a new case emerged in Auckland’s CBD.

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the new virus sample, from a female student based in Auckland, had now been directly, genomically linked to that of a Defence Force staff member who had spent time near where the woman worked.

The Defence worker's case has been linked to one of the country's Managed Isolation and Quarantine centres.


Hipkins announced on Friday that there was positive news — no new cases had been detected among the woman's tested close contacts so far. He said while testing would ramp up in Auckland over the coming weeks, New Zealand's largest city would not raise its alert level up from stage one.

But the minister also sounded a warning note to New Zealanders about the ongoing risk to the community.

"We don't yet have a confirmed theory for how the virus was transmitted between the cases," he said.

 
3 new cases of COVID-19
Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
15 November 2020

There are three new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

There are two new cases at the border and one linked to the Auckland case D - who is already in quarantine.

One person who tested positive today arrived from the UK on 10 November via Qatar and Australia. The individual tested positive at routine testing around day 3 in Hamilton and is now being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

The second case arrived from Dubai on 10 November and was also detected on testing around day 3. This person has now been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

We are also today confirming a positive test result in a close contact who is already in Auckland’s quarantine facility and which was reported yesterday as under investigation.

As reported yesterday this individual’s initial test result was negative and their subsequent test yesterday returned a weak positive result. A third test taken yesterday is now confirmed as positive. These test results indicate that this new case is a very recent infection.

This individual is a close contact of Case D and has been in the Auckland quarantine facility since 12th November.

Auckland Regional Public Health have identified seven close contacts and three casual contacts. All have been contacted and testing arranged.

Testing for all ten contacts is expected to be completed by the end of the day.
There are no places of interest identified to date for this latest case.


1605421492352.png
 
3 new cases of COVID-19
Media release by NZ Ministry of Health
15 November 2020

There are three new cases of COVID-19 to report in New Zealand today.

There are two new cases at the border and one linked to the Auckland case D - who is already in quarantine.

One person who tested positive today arrived from the UK on 10 November via Qatar and Australia. The individual tested positive at routine testing around day 3 in Hamilton and is now being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

The second case arrived from Dubai on 10 November and was also detected on testing around day 3. This person has now been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

We are also today confirming a positive test result in a close contact who is already in Auckland’s quarantine facility and which was reported yesterday as under investigation.

As reported yesterday this individual’s initial test result was negative and their subsequent test yesterday returned a weak positive result. A third test taken yesterday is now confirmed as positive. These test results indicate that this new case is a very recent infection.

This individual is a close contact of Case D and has been in the Auckland quarantine facility since 12th November.

Auckland Regional Public Health have identified seven close contacts and three casual contacts. All have been contacted and testing arranged.

Testing for all ten contacts is expected to be completed by the end of the day.
There are no places of interest identified to date for this latest case.


View attachment 233680
Via Australia,eh? So I’m guessing some on the flight to Australia need to take note
 
Via Australia,eh? So I’m guessing some on the flight to Australia need to take note


One would presume that any who disembarked in Australia will have gone into hotel quarantine, and that hopefully Australian authorities treat every arrival as if they are positive.
 
One would presume that any who disembarked in Australia will have gone into hotel quarantine, and that hopefully Australian authorities treat every arrival as if they are positive.

NSW has gone awfully quiet on this no update after ‘trying to track them all down’
 
NSW has gone awfully quiet on this no update after ‘trying to track them all down’

My reference was to the people on the flight from the UK to Australia who would have flown with this person. ie One person who tested positive today arrived from the UK on 10 November via Qatar and Australia.

So presumably all easy to contact as they would all be in the normal 14 quarantine for international arrivals apart from NZ.

I am guessing that your comment may be about people arriving in Australia from New Zealand?
 
I swear there’s a positive case of someone traveling from Australia that tested positive on the day 11 test. Not a transit passenger. No details on originating state and whether the strain is related to Australia or other source. Anyone know anything more on that case?
 
I swear there’s a positive case of someone traveling from Australia that tested positive on the day 11 test. Not a transit passenger. No details on originating state and whether the strain is related to Australia or other source. Anyone know anything more on that case?

You can go and read the daily summaries. I do not read them all, but I do not recall such a case in recent times.
 
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