Cook Islands First COVID Case "historical"

The 10 year old child who provided two ‘weak positive’ covid test results after arriving in Rarotonga last Thursday, has returned a negative result in his latest test. That means he’s not infectious and this is an historical case.

The Secretary of Health – Bob Williams – says, “Testing for Covid-19 can be complex; it is not always as simple as ‘positive or negative’. After the two ‘weak positive’ results, we took the approach they were positive until we got information saying otherwise.“

“Today’s ‘negative’ result is that information. It means we did NOT detect any virus in the mucus sample we took from the boy. This is good news.”

“The most likely explanation is that the boy was exposed to the virus in the past.”

“The best way to confirm this is an historical case is to send blood for serology to the ESR laboratory in New Zealand. We will be sending sequential blood samples for antibody testing.”

“There is further good news in that as a precaution after the ‘weak positive’ test, over the weekend, we tested all 117 border personnel who were on duty when that repatriation flight came in. That included border staff at the airport, drivers and staff at the MIQ facility – the Edgewater Resort. All those results have come back negative, meaning all those people are clear of the virus.”

“We are fortunate that our entry protocols detected this possible case, and we have followed our protocols reaching this satisfactory result. But it also emphasises the need to remain vigilant.”

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