4 new cases of Covid-19 in isolation; 1 historical case

January 27, 2021

There are 4 new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and one historical case to report in New Zealand since our last media statement yesterday.

There have been no new cases in the community to report.

New border case details

The historical case arrived on 11 January on a direct flight from United States. This case was tested during routine day 12 testing and has been transferred to a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Christchurch.

One previously reported case has now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 68.  Our total number of confirmed cases is 1,938.

On Tuesday, a total of 10,812 tests were processed. Almost three quarters of these – 8,055 – were taken from across Northland and Auckland.

“It’s encouraging to see testing numbers remain high and it’s also good to see the majority of these tests were taken from the focus of the latest response – Northland and Auckland,” says Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

“Yesterday’s number means we have now processed more than 1.5 million tests (1,504,309) which is incredibly positive and I want to thank everyone who’s either taken a test or has helped to take the test or process it – your efforts in helping to keep Covid-19 out of the community are greatly appreciated.”

The seven-day rolling average for testing up to yesterday is 4,569 tests processed.

Update on Northland case

All potential close contacts of the previously reported Northland case have now returned negative test results.

The local public health unit has reviewed the status of a number of potential close contacts and has reclassified them as casual plus contacts.

A total of 212 staff from the managed isolation facility at Pullman Hotel have been tested, along with 192 guests currently in the facility. The vast majority of the test results received so far are negative, we are awaiting a small number of results. We’ll be able to give an updated number when available.

Of the 353 people who departed the managed isolation facility between January 9 and 24, 255 people have returned negative tests.

Contact tracing staff are continuing to follow up with the remaining 98 recently departed guests to ensure they have their test. Today’s number of 353 differs from yesterday’s 357 as since then three people have left the country and since been referred to their own health authorities while another record has been deleted as it was a double up.

A total of 327 people received a push notification as a result of having scanned into one of 31 locations of interest.

Testing in the community

Testing numbers in Northland remain high – yesterday 983 tests were taken around the region.

Testing staff in Northland inform us that yesterday’s rush on community testing centres had eased by early afternoon and we want to extend our thanks to people for recognising the importance of getting a test and when.

A reminder that if you were not at a location of interest at the stated times and you have no symptoms you do not need to be tested.

If you were at the locations of interest at the times stated, you need to get a test, and remain isolated until you receive the result.

If you have symptoms but have not been to a location of interest stay home and call Healthline for advice.

Testing centres around Northland remain open and free today for people who need a test. Nine community based testing centres remain open, while another is available for testing on request. Further details can be found here here.

NZ Covid Tracer

NZ Covid Tracer now has 2,505,796 registered users.

The total number of poster scans is now 161,180,179

Users have created a total of 6,594,817 manual diary entries

“Please remember to keep up the momentum and scan, scan, scan. Scanning in has made it so much easier for contact tracing staff to very quickly trace the movements of close and casual plus contacts…this is exactly the kind of response we need to break the chain of transmission of Covid-19,” says Dr Bloomfield.