Covid 19 coronavirus: Two new cases in managed isolation

There are two new Covid-19 cases in managed isolation.

There are no new community cases today.

The first imported case arrived on 7 October from Bangladesh, via Brisbane and Doha. The person was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton and tested positive as part of routine day 3 testing. Following their positive result, they have now been transferred to Auckland's quarantine facility.

The second case arrived on 9 October from London, via Dubai and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton. They tested positive as part of routine day 3 testing and have been transferred to Auckland's quarantine facility.

There is one additional recovered case to report today.

Our total number of active cases is 40 – all imported cases.

Yesterday, there was one new case of the virus in managed isolation and an additional seven cases had recovered.

The positive result came after the person was tested on day three of their stay in a Christchurch facility. They are now in quarantine.

The total number of active cases yesterday was 39 - all of whom are imported. There were no active community cases of the virus.

No one was in hospital either, and the day before, there were no new cases.

The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It comes as a leading Covid-19 expert slammed the World Health Organisation for its handling fo the pandemic.

Professor Michael Baker's criticisms come as public comments around lockdowns by Dr David Nabarro, the WHO's special envoy for Covid-19, have caused some confusion.

In one interview with UK magazine Spectator this month, Nabarro said he believed lockdowns should only be used to buy authorities time to set up effective public health systems.

But that general statement didn't apply to New Zealand's unique case, experts here have since pointed out.

And this morning, WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris fronted to RNZ to clarify messaging around lockdowns, stressing that countries needed to "do it all" rather than solely rely on lockdowns.

There was one new case announced yesterday. They were in managed isolation. Photo / Dean Purcell

In any case, Baker, an Otago University epidemiologist who has staunchly advocated New Zealand's successful elimination strategy, said the pandemic had shown a need to be "very cautious" about acting on advice from overseas organisations.

Western agencies like the WHO, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which New Zealand had traditionally looked to, had "let us all down badly" over Covid-19.

Tonight will mark one week since Auckland joined the rest of New Zealand at alert level 1 for the second time in a turbulent 2020.

And with it, the restrictions of alert levels 2, 2.5, 3, and 4 feel like a distant memory while countries overseas continue to struggle with their Covid-19 responses.

Yesterday, the British government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk in a bid to slow a resurgent outbreak heading into their winter.

Melbourne remains in lockdown, having been at stage four since August 2 with 12 new Covid-19 cases and one death reported yesterday.