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A teacher at Auckland's Green Bay High School is being tested for coronavirus after a person they live with was in contact with a confirmed case.
Principal Fiona Barker sent a note to parents and the school community saying the teacher is in self-isolation after learning their flatmate had beenin contact with one of the 20 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
"The staff member has not had direct contact with the infected person and has had limited interaction with the secondary contact," the statement said.
The school, which has a roll of 1400 students, remains open and the test results are expected on Friday afternoon.
"The safety of our students and staff is of the utmost importance to us," the statement said.
The Logan Park High School pupil was New Zealand's 12th confirmed coronavirus patient. His father, aged in his 40s, recently returned from Germany and earlier tested positive for the virus.
Two of the Dunedin man's family members, including the student, had been in isolation after showing symptoms.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says there is still no need for schools to be closed.
The UK this morning announced that all schools would be shut down and exams postponed.
Peters told Newstalk ZB that New Zealand had not reached that stage yet, however.
The plan was to try to cauterize the issue with the greatest speed. More information was also needed before making a dramatic decision like closing schools, he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to make an announcement today banning indoor gatherings of 100 or more people.
Peters said the evidence and information at this time does not suggest that closing the borders is the best idea.
New Zealand health authorities are carrying out more than 500 tests for coronavirus each day, in a race to find out if there is community transmission.
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the Ministry of Health was ramping up testing for Covid-19 to see if it is spreading in the community.
"All those positive tests to date have been people who have returned from overseas," he said.
"We're looking for cases which don't have that overseas link - that would give us an early indication we might have community transmission and then we can go hard."
