Covid 19 coronavirus: Aucklanders not out of woods despite long-weekend relief

New Zealand is not out of the woods quite yet when it comes to the current Covid-19 community scare, despite assurances Aucklanders can travel over the long weekend.

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield has deployed a health team to track down a cohort of 39 people, who had stayed at the Pullman Hotel alongside Covid-19 positive people, to confirm if they have been re-tested.

And there are still likely thousands of yesterday's Covid-19 tests yet to be processed by officials.

To add to the Government's woes, a luxury cruise ship has been denied entry to New Zealand after a number of its crew members were denied visas as they weren't classed as essential.

And the Government's "premium" level isolation standards are again under pressure after it was revealed a MIQ worker had been sacked after a 20-minute "encounter" with someone staying at an isolation hotel.

But there is some good news – Aucklanders have been given the green light to go away for the long weekend.

"Our advice… is that there's no reason why people's travel plans should change," Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told reporters.

But Bloomfield warned everyone to remain vigilant: "Alert level 1 is not alert level none".

Close to 4000 Covid-19 tests from Auckland, taken on Thursday, had been processed as of last night; all were negative.

It's likely a similar number of tests are being processed today. That figure will become more clear at 1pm today.

But there are still major question marks around 39 people who are now being tracked down by health officials.

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

There were 353 people who were at the Pullman Hotel while Covid-19 infected people were in the facility earlier this month.

Those people have since been released from the MIQ.

Some 312 of these people have returned a negative result and two – the two reported earlier this week in Auckland's North Shore – were positive and are now in isolation.

There are, however, still 39 people Bloomfield is unsure about. "It's still a working process," he said when asked about the cohort.

"Most of [those 39] who have been re-contacted have said 'I have had a test, or I am about to have a test.'

But he could not say for sure how many were left outstanding and how many were even in Auckland.

"Some people have not picked up the follow-up phone calls at this point in time – and so we're doing additional things to track them down," Bloomfield said.

But he is confident the public health units he has dispatched will track the stragglers.

Meanwhile, a luxury expedition cruise ship Le Laperouse is "hovering" outside New Zealand waters has been held at the border because most of the crew were refused visas.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said the Government received border exemption requests for 90 of the crew on board two days before its journey – but only 29 were considered "essential" and were approved.

That means 61 were deemed non-essential workers and have been denied entry.

"The ship should have waited for decisions on visas to be completed to ensure those on board complied with New Zealand immigration requirements when the ship entered our border," Faafoi said.

He was highly critical of the organisers' of the cruise, saying they were "unwise" to begin selling tickets to New Zealanders before they had all their checks in place.

But New Zealand Cruise Association chief executive Kevin O'Sullivan said that was not the whole story.

He said it was the Le Laperouse's understanding the issues would be sorted out while the vessel was in transit.

"Visas are, generally, not withheld," and there are no non-essential staff on a cruise ship as they are all essential to its operations.

"I think it's a case of one government department gives and another takes away," he said, adding there had been little discussion between the branches of government.