Covid-19 coronavirus: Auckland primary school students test positive, parents warned

Primary school-aged children from Marist School in Mount Albert, Auckland, have tested positive for Covid-19.

Parents of students who attended the Catholic school were told about the confirmed cases, which were linked to the cluster at Marist College, in an email.

"All have mild or no symptoms and we wish them and their families a quick recovery," an email from principal Carolyn Phillips said.

Marist School in Mount Albert, Auckland. Photo / Google

As of yesterday, Marist College had 48 confirmed and probable cases and the entire school of 750 students and staff was told to remain in strict self-isolation.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring Marist School was contacted by families after students of the school tested positive for the virus.

"A few points to highlight: These cases are within the Marist College cluster," Phillips said.

"And the Marist School students most likely contracted the virus from another family member during last week."

Given the families were in self-isolation last week due to the college cases, the primary school students' last contact with the school was Friday, March 20.

It was thought the risk to other Marist School students and staff was "extremely low", Phillips said.

Marist School board chairwoman Catherine Gilchrist would not provide any comment about the confirmed cases when contacted by the Herald.

There were 89 new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand today, the most recorded in a single day so far.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said it showed the country was not yet "flattening the curve" in terms of daily case rises.

It would be another week until the nationwide lockdown had observable effects on the number of cases, he said.

Elsewhere, an Auckland father said he was denied a virus test twice before testing positive.

Geoff Muliaga Brown, who has a daughter who attends Marist College, was admitted to hospital one week after first feeling ill. He was struggling to breathe.

"A lot of the time I was bedridden and just trying to survive, really," he shared in a Facebook video.

Brown said he fell ill on March 20 after attending an event at the Catholic girls' school.

"When I mean sick, I mean chronically ill, bedridden. We later found out that a teacher had been infected by the virus."

The 89 new cases today were made up of 76 confirmed cases and 13 probable cases. It brought the total to 797 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Ninety-two people have recovered, Bloomfield said. Thirteen people were in hospital and two were in ICU.

Fifty-one per cent of cases have links to overseas travel. Just 1 per cent were community transmission but Bloomfield expects that number to rise.

Seventeen per cent of cases are still being investigated. Bloomfield said many of those are expected to be community transmission.

There were 2563 tests yesterday, making a total of 26,000 tests so far.

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