5 New Cases Of COVID-19

There are five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to report from managed isolation in New Zealand today and no new confirmed cases in the community.

Of the five individuals who tested positive, two arrived from Switzerland via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia on 29 September and one each from Russia via the United Arab Emirates on 21 September, from Ukraine on 29 September; and from Australia on 30 September.

Two of the returnees are in managed isolation in Auckland; one has already been transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility and arrangements are in place for the second person to be transferred.

The three other returnees are in managed isolation in Rotorua and will also be transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility. Today’s results were from routine testing around day three for four people and testing around day 12 for the fifth person.

Our total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 1,498, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.

Five previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, leaving our total number of active cases effectively unchanged from yesterday at 41.

Of these active cases, 34 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and seven are community cases.

There is no one in hospital with COVID-19 in New Zealand today.

Yesterday our laboratories processed 3616 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 979,985.

Air Crew

New requirements for air crew take effect from 11.59pm tonight.

Changes to Orders made under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 are being made to require:

• all New Zealand-based air crew to use PPE on all flights and to isolate with other crew members while on overseas layovers
• all overseas-based air crew to wear appropriate PPE while in New Zealand airports and whenever travelling between the airport and their hotel
• overseas-based air crew who are laying over in New Zealand to do so in a Government managed isolation facility for as long as they are in the country, to ensure they avoid contact with New Zealanders
• New Zealand-based crew returning to New Zealand from high-risk locations overseas to self-isolate for at least 48 hours after they return, and until they are assessed as being low risk of having COVID-19 (including receiving a negative test).

The Ministry is aware these measures are already widely used, and this change will make sure that they’re applied consistently.

NZ COVID Tracer

There are now 2,293,500 users registered on NZ COVID Tracer.

The app has recorded a total of 83,309,534 poster scans, and users have created 3,566,065 manual diary entries.

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