Ministry of Health Covid-19 update
November 26, 2020
There is one new case of Covid-19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand today. There are no new community cases.
Today’s case arrived on 14 November from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. They tested positive at routine testing around day 12 of their stay in managed isolation and have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
There are 60 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.
Our total number of confirmed cases is 1684.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 9083 tests for Covid-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,252,601.
Air New Zealand case
As previously reported, the Ministry of Health has been working closely with Air New Zealand after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19 in Shanghai.
Results of genome sequencing show that the lineage of this infection is not associated with any New Zealand cases that have been sequenced, indicating international exposure is most likely.
The crew returned from Shanghai on a cargo-only flight yesterday morning. All crew wore PPE and are being monitored, isolated and tested.
Further test samples from close contacts* of the staff member have been processed rapidly and nine results have been returned, all of which are negative.
Because this case was first reported in China, it is officially a case in China, not New Zealand – so while we are reporting on it, it does not enter into our official count of Covid-19 cases.
The Ministry continues to investigate how this most recent confirmed Covid-19 case was contracted. Although the source of the infection is still unknown, we are continuing to take precautionary actions within New Zealand.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service is continuing to identify any locations of interest the case may have visited and any associated close contacts. Twelve close contacts have been identified to date.
*The Ministry would like to correct yesterday’s statement. At that time, there were 10 close contacts in self isolation or managed isolation. Another potential close contact was being investigated.
NZ Covid Tracer
The Ministry of Health has sent out six push notifications through the NZ Covid Tracer app for locations of interest that were visited by the Air New Zealand worker.
As at 10am today, 96 app users have received contact alerts from these notifications.
This case reinforces the importance of our shared vigilance against Covid-19, and the measures we all need to take to stop the spread of the virus.
NZ Covid Tracer now has 2,382,800 registered users. Poster scans have reached 126,354,209, and users have created 5,143,314 manual diary entries.
It’s incredibly important that all New Zealanders download the Covid Tracer app if they haven’t already, and that we all scan the QR codes wherever we see them.
Taking a few seconds to scan in with the app means we can quickly inform you when you may have been exposed to the virus, so you can take steps to protect yourself and your whanau. It also means if you test positive for the virus, you can instantly provide your digital diary to contact tracers to give them a massive head-start.
The faster we can contact trace, the quicker we can get ahead of the virus and stop it spreading any further. The more we all scan, the safer we’ll all be.
