WELLINGTON, Sept 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) – New Zealand confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 today, including one in the community and one imported case in managed isolation.
The community case has been epidemiologically linked to the Auckland cluster, according to the Ministry of Health.
The case in managed isolation is a woman in her 30’s, who arrived from the Philippines via Hong Kong on Aug 29. She has been in managed isolation at the Distinction Hotel in Christchurch and tested positive around day 3 of her stay, said a ministry statement.
Since Aug 11, the government’s contact tracing team identified 3,162 close contact cases, of which 2,984 have been contacted and are self-isolating, and the team is in the process of contacting the rest, it said.
There are 92 people linked to the community cluster, who have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility, which includes 67 people who tested positive and their household contacts, the statement said. There are seven people with COVID-19 in hospital, with two in ICU.
There are 16 previously reported community outbreak cases who are considered to have recovered. With today’s two new cases, the total number of active cases is 115. Of these, 36 are imported cases in managed isolation facilities, and 79 are community cases.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 1,408.
New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, entered a lower level COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, allowing people to get in and out of the city, sparking concern of further spreading the virus, as some Aucklanders flew to resorts such as Queenstown in the South Island, when restrictions relaxed.
Face coverings, such as masks became compulsory on public transport across New Zealand from Monday.
