No new cases in the community, 5 in MIQ

Ministry of Health Covid-19 update

February 15, 2021

There are no new cases in the community outside of the 3 cases announced yesterday. For formal reporting figures, the third community case is included in our numbers today.

There are 5 cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation, one of which is historical.

Auckland February cases
The results of genomic sequencing for the first 2 Auckland February cases have confirmed the Covid-19 variant B1.1.7, first detected in the UK.

ESR is now conducting a scan of the international genome database to see if there is a match.

This result reinforces the decision to take swift and robust action around the latest cases to detect and stamp out the possibility of any further transmission.

An intensive source investigation around the latest cases continues, along with public health actions and alert level changes outlined yesterday, are designed to break any potential chains of transmission.

Serology testing for the 3 positive cases and a close household contact is also now underway.

The 3 cases remain in quarantine and one household contact, who has tested negative, is in isolation.

Close contacts
Contact tracing has identified 10 close contacts outside the household. Six of these close contacts have returned a negative test and 4 results are pending.

Investigations will continue today into the three community cases, including further interviews. As a result the number of locations of interest, close and casual plus contacts may change.

The priority is for close contacts and casual plus contacts to be tested so we can understand any risk in the community.

There are a number of locations of interest for people who may be ‘Casual Plus Contacts’ or ‘Casual Contacts’ of Covid-19 cases in the community. While risk from these locations is most often low, contacts who attended one of the locations during the relevant timeframes are asked to follow the directions of health officials.

For the latest information on locations of interest, and to understand if you are a casual or close contact, please see here
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/contact-tracing-covid-19/covid-19-contact-tracing-locations-interest

Testing centres
More than 1000 tests were carried out in Auckland yesterday at community testing centres. Today community testing centres have extended their hours at Health New Lynn, The Whanau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri, Otara Community Testing Centre and Botany Testing Centre.

For further information on community testing station hours is available on the Auckland Regional Public Health Service website https://www.arphs.health.nz/

A testing site is also available at Papatoetoe High School, the school Case B attended. Please note this testing site is only for students, teachers and their families.

Sky Chef, where Case A worked, have testing onsite for staff and their families today.

Waikato
There are two pop-up testing centres in Waikato, along with one permanent community testing centre. The two pop-up centres are at Claudelands Event Centre and Otorohanga Sport Club. Opening hours can be found on the DHBs website.

https://www.waikatodhb.health.nz/your-health/covid-19-in-waikato/cbac/

Taranaki
A number of testing centres are open in Taranaki. These locations are: Taranaki Base Hospital; MediCross Urgent Care & GP Clinic; Hâwera Hospital; Waitara Health Centre; Ôpunake Health Centre/Coastal Care. Please check the DHBs website for instructions on how to arrange a test.

It’s important the right people can get access to testing — so please don’t rush to a centre if you are well, or if you weren’t at one of the locations of interest.

We are anticipating high demand at our Covid-19 testing sites and delays are possible, so our request is to please be patient.

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.

As always, if you are unwell with symptoms, take advice about getting tested before you head out – firstly by calling Healthline.

Travel/exemptions
Auckland is now at Alert Level 3 until midnight Wednesday 17 February, and the rest of New Zealand is at Alert Level 2.

The Auckland region under Level 3 includes the southern motorway and the north boundary south of Mangawhai Heads.

Anyone wanting to travel between Alert Level 3 and Alert Level 2 regions needs to check whether they are eligible to travel. An exemption process is in place for:

·        Businesses or work-related travel – please contact MBIE
·        Personal travel that is urgent, or you need to return to your home – please contact Ministry of Health https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/covid-19-travel-within-new-zealand

New border case details

A fifth case that arrived from the United States on January 28 has been deemed historical and remains in managed isolation.

Six previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 47. Our total number of confirmed cases is 1980.

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,589,949.

On Sunday, 3132 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 3864 tests processed.

Historical cases  
Since January 1, there have now been 29 historical cases, out of a total of 171 cases.
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NZ Covid Tracer
NZ Covid Tracer now has 2,591,784 registered users. More than 1.1 million people have now enabled Bluetooth.

Poster scans have reached 179,756,337 and users have created 7,373,334 manual diary entries.

It’s critical to keep track of where you’ve been and the COVID Tracer app is an easy way to do this. Please continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so.