October 30, 2020
There is one case of Covid-19 in New Zealand to report today in managed isolation and no new community cases.
The one case from managed isolation is a member of the Christchurch-based international mariners group who tested positive.
This individual was a close contact of a previously reported case from the same group of mariners who had tested positive during day 6 testing and as such was already being closely monitored.
Three cases have now recovered, meaning the total number of active cases is 68.
Our total number of confirmed cases is now 1,594.
Yesterday our laboratories completed 7,472 tests for Covid-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,090,702.
This is the second consecutive day of more than seven thousand tests completed. It is good to see a sustained response to the call for anyone with symptoms to be tested.
International mariners in managed isolation in Christchurch
The isolated positive case reported today in the Christchurch-based international mariners group, which was a close contact of an existing case, gives us confidence that the standard practice for managing cases and contacts within managed isolation, supplemented by extending the isolation period and additional testing, was the right approach to take in the circumstances.
Day 15 testing will be carried out this weekend of all group members who are not already confirmed cases. All those who meet our low risk indicators, which include those who’ve recovered or have returned consistently negative test results throughout their stay, will be eligible to leave managed isolation from next Tuesday 3 November.
Auckland maritime company cases
Genome sequencing, carried out in Queensland, of one of the Covid-19 positive crew members of the Sofrana Surville has returned the genome subtype as three recent cases from the Auckland maritime company form whom we have genome sequencing.
The Brisbane sequence was one mutation earlier than the genomes sequenced from our New Zealand cases. This supports our view that the index case in this group was infected by on-board exposure to new crew members who joined the Sofrana Surville in Auckland. We continue to investigate the exact circumstances where the infection might have occurred to inform any changes to protocols designed to keep workers and our communities safe.
NZ Covid Tracer
There are now 2,333,600 users registered on NZ Covid Tracer.
The app has recorded a total of 102,697,098 poster scans and users have created a total of 4,301,876 manual diary entries.
The more we scan, the safer we’ll be. The faster we respond, the faster we stop Covid-19.
