4 Cases Of COVID-19

There is one new case of COVID-19 in the community linked to the existing Auckland February cases.

The case (case G) is a household contact of cases D, E and F which we announced on Wednesday. This person had previously returned a negative test, taken on Monday 15 February, and has been isolating at home and is in the process of transferring to the Auckland quarantine facility.

There is one additional member of this household, who has returned a negative test result, but is also being transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

Genome sequencing has been completed for case F and shows a clear link to other cases in the cluster.

There are three new cases in managed isolation. One of the cases in managed isolation is classified as historical and deemed not infectious.

Contact tracing and test results
Other than the known cases which have been reported, all close contacts associated with the cases households, school and travel group to New Plymouth have returned negative results.

Contact tracing has identified 128 close contacts associated with all cases in this cluster, aside from the positive cases which have previously been reported. Of these, 112 of the close contacts have returned a negative test result.
We are awaiting test results for 16 people. Seven of these people are from the medical clinic and relate to Case C, which is considered a low risk exposure event, and nine are workplace contacts of Case E. All of whom are in isolation and have been or are being tested.

As at 8.00am this morning, a total of 31 close contacts and 1,476 casual plus contacts have been identified at Papatoetoe High School. The number of casual plus contacts has decreased as these people were not at school at the time of exposure.

Of the 31 school close contacts, 30 have returned negative results, with one positive result (Case D).

Of the casual plus contacts (that is other students and staff at the school), 1412 have returned negative results, there is one positive (Case E), and 63 results are to come.

We do remind all students and staff at the school to please stay home and have a test if they haven’t already. School is expected to return on Monday 22 February. Close contacts at the school will not return until they have been advised by public health that they can.

As part of our source investigation, LSG Sky Chef staff have also been tested.

All nine contacts in the laundry have returned negative results. Of the 444 people in the wider working environment, 384 are negative and 59 results are pending (1 positive, Case B).

Investigations will continue today into the second household group, including further interviews with contact tracing staff. As a result, a potential increase in the number of locations of interest, close and casual plus contacts is not unexpected.

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

For the latest information on locations of interest, and to understand if you are a casual or close contact, please see Contact tracing locations of interest.

Source investigation
As we have said, all scenarios for potential infection sources continue to be thoroughly investigated including the school, the workplace and a managed isolation facility.

For completeness, we have reviewed previous cases for a similar genome and have not found any direct matches.

A possible genomic similarity – but no direct match – involved a guest at the Four Points by Sheraton managed isolation facility in Auckland.

Guests and their household contacts who were at the facility in late December are being contacted.

For the 265 people in the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, 176 have now been contacted. Of these, 149 have been assessed and cleared; 9 are now overseas; 18 are being followed up by public health units for further investigation. Of the 89 people to be contacted, finding services have provided details for 44 and they are being contacted. Finding services are actively pursuing details for the remaining 45 individuals.

ESR and health officials do not consider this a likely source of infection at this stage.

Testing centres
There are 9 community testing centres available for testing across Auckland this weekend– they are in Takanini, Wiri, Otara, Botany, Balmoral, New Lynn, Henderson and Northcote, as well as the dedicated testing site at Papatoetoe High School.

The pop-up testing centre at the school will remain open over the weekend and nearby community testing centres will be operating extended hours to ensure the school community has convenient access to testing. A COVID-19 test is free wherever you go.

For up-to-date information on testing locations in metro Auckland, visit the ARPHS website.

For up-to-date info on all testing locations nationwide, visit the Healthpoint website.

Wastewater
We have received the results from ESR's wastewater testing for 17 February.

So far, they have found no evidence of COVID-19 in wastewater from the seven sites sampled in Auckland and in three other centres – Hamilton, New Plymouth and Wellington.

Following the recent community cases identified in Auckland, three additional Auckland sites were tested for detection of the virus. Samples were taken from Pukekohe, Maraetai/Beachlands and Whangaparaoa, and all returned negative. The results from three other one-off tests across other Auckland sites are expected to be reported tomorrow.

Staying safe this weekend
Aucklanders can keep enjoying their summer if everyone continues with the simple health behaviours that’ll protect your families and others and keep the virus in check:

• Stay home if you’re feeling unwell and get advice about a COVID-19 test
• Wash your hands 
• Scan QR codes 
• Turn on Bluetooth tracing on the NZ COVID Tracer app
• Wear a face covering on public transport and on domestic flights.

You are also encouraged to wear face coverings in situations where physical distancing is not possible, like in shops.

Businesses also have an important role to play: 
• Put up plenty of QR code posters in your shop/café/restaurant/bar 
• Invite your customers to scan in as they go in 
• Encourage everyone to wash or sanitise their hands

New border case details
 

*The person who arrived from Indonesia on 12 February is classified as historical and deemed not infectious.

No previously reported cases have recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 50. Our total number of confirmed cases is 1,992.

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,640,686.

On Thursday, 10,833 tests were processed. The seven-day rolling average up to yesterday is 8,843 tests processed.

Historical cases

Since January 1, there have now been 30 historical cases, out of a total of 182 cases.

NZ COVID Tracer

It is really encouraging to report that we are seeing the highest level of scanning since the August Auckland outbreak.

A total of 1,758,184 scans were recorded for the 24 hours to 1:00pm this Thursday, with an average of 1,279,664 scans made each day this week.

NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,659,202 registered users.

All time poster scans have reached 186,336,079 and users have created 7,587,533 manual diary entries. 1,220,954 poster scans have been recorded since midday yesterday.

Please continue to use the COVID Tracer app to keep track of where you’ve been. Please also continue to scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard if you haven’t already done so.

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